Crimson Concrete for a Thorny Rose
by Instant Classic Superstar Pac
Summary: Follow-up to Love's Demonic Black Sheep set within pieces of season 7. Derrick's quest to save both Kyra and Cole comes closer to impossible through a heartbreaking setback which he must find the resolve to plow through and rise above.
1. Part 1

_**Crimson Concrete for a Thorny Rose**__ (part 1)_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Connie Burge, Brad Kern, and co. I only own one character seen here, that being Derrick Serkan Brady, and the pieces of the storyline you are about to read that are not seen or hinted at on _Charmed_. Also, regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either are/were or would be portrayed by actual human beings with at least an iota of believable acting ability.

Rating: T

Summary: Follow-up to Love's Demonic Black Sheep set within pieces of season 7. Derrick's quest to save both Kyra and Cole comes closer to impossible through a heartbreaking setback which he must find the resolve to plow through and rise above.

* * *

NOTE: It's been long enough for me to perfectly cite my own laziness when it comes to actually writing what comes into my mind since the last time I updated anything with these two. I haven't exactly been swamped with a lot of stuff to do of late, so I don't really have that excuse to dull out about this. All I can do now is try to be more active now and I guess that starts at this point.

Anyway, Love's Demonic Black Sheep left off days before Cole Turner used his Avatar powers to take what would prove a fatal trip through the fabric of time and reality, only to end up not in the demonic wasteland, but in some unspecified form of limbo (which those of you that watched through season 7 already know what it is). Since we already know that happened, going through Kyra and Derrick's adventures from there in anything more than brief detail probably wouldn't take us through anything important enough to warrant entire chapters being made of it. That is, until a certain point in the program where she begins to become prominent. And that is what I'm here to take care of right now.

Now, one of my last reviewers to Love's Demonic Black Sheep (I'm thinking it was my last reviewer) commented about my long ass author's notes before and after the story in that one. For that set, it was necessary, just to try and get everybody smoothed over as to where exactly I was coming from, but now that a general idea has been established as to some part of where this whole saga is going, I've decided that I'm not gonna just automatically go ahead with these book-length author's notes as a given. But… if anybody has any questions about any of this, don't hesitate to slip it into your reviews, cause an answer's comin' as of the next piece.

Also, this plot of this two-piece is heavily centered around Valhalla as presented in season 6's Valhalley of the Dolls premiere. Anyway, folks, now to get on with the show. It's about time, after all.

* * *

"Where the hell did all this come from, anyway, huh, Kyra!?" Derrick was now shouting angrily within their lair.

"You're not even trying to understand- I didn't see you anywhere!" Kyra shot back, easily coming off more defensive than angry. "That means you can't get involved in this even if you try!"

"Haven't we already changed the future before- you know, with Cole!? Why can't we do it again this time!?" he demanded, clearly frustrated about the issue at hand.

"That was different!" Kyra contended immediately.

"May I ask how!?" Derrick shot back.

"We had several days to figure something out, and you were not gonna die!" she then explained

"Speaking of which, you said you didn't see me at all in there. How does that mean I'm dead and you didn't just miss me somewhere!?" he questioned.

"Do you have the power to vanish without a trace and come back at will?" Kyra asked, surprisingly with her tone calmed down. This got him to stand down for a couple seconds and actually think about her question.

"No," he answered swiftly, though the attack in his tone was lost as well.

"Then the fact that I don't see you anywhere after the point that I'm blocked from seeing means you die, as in get vanquished and cease to exist, thanks to something really powerful that doesn't let me see how it happens," Kyra was finally able to explain to him, and immediately he just seemingly came to a complete stop. Not that his breath was ever obscured by anything, but one could barely tell that he was even doing that much. "The absolute only way you can escape this is if you go away - y'know, leave and never come back - before this really powerful something ever comes down here. And that happens in less than an hour! We have to get you out of here or else you're gonna get killed! Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?"

The second she stopped talking and actually looked at Derrick, she regretted the way that she'd worded that last question. She could see that he was already deeply torn here - he didn't even look like his usual hopeful self. Now, sure, seeing him be happy-go-lucky wasn't exactly one of the most common occurrences in the world, but happy-go-lucky wasn't the way to describe the quality about him that she was so easily comfortable in growing accustomed to over these years. Rather, on top of the genuine loyalty he showed her and the always-painstaking effort and thought he always helped her put into accomplishing their personal goals, was this determination to keep moving forward, keep trying to find a way, and never give up - all because he actually cared about her. Each of these qualities she could actually say he had in leaps and bounds over every other being in the Underworld she ever encountered all put together, and it suddenly struck her in a really worrisome way when she noticed that the main one, his unending resolve, just seemed at the moment like it had just totally crumbled.

"Uh… are you okay?" she asked eventually as she regained her senses after what seemed like an eternity, though now she immediately thought-berated herself for asking such an insensitive sounding question. He looked up at her in response, but was visibly quite downcast.

"Sorry, d'you say something?" he suddenly asked. For a second, though, she didn't respond, still in a very uneasy awe at how he suddenly appeared as if he'd just resigned himself to a fate worse than death.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah…" she sounded off, his question finally starting to register with him. "Yeah, I…" she stopped herself as i finally came to her how to inquire into his mindset. "What are you thinking right now?"

He let out a sigh in response. She couldn't tell whether this meant the direct approach had reached him or was simply now just lost on him in all his newfound despair. Though she would soon get her answer.

"I'm thinking… that now I have two choices: either die, or live without a _raison d'être_," was his vocal reply, laced with some disgust at this current situation. "And I'm thinking, that this is perhaps the most undesirable couplet of choices in the history of the world!"

"I know, and trust me- this is the last thing that I wanted," she stated, assuring him he had her understanding. "Especially since you've been there for me in such a way that would probably make all this bring me to tears if I could feel things the way a human can. But Derrick, this… this is what I saw. And we can't do anything about it. More importantly, if we try to do anything about it, then you're gonna die."

"And if we don't try to do anything about it, then in a couple of months, you're gonna die!" Derrick reminded her urgently.

"You probably can't do anything about that anyway, and even if you could, better me than you! You can actually go out into the world and set out to do anything you want just off what and who you are, while this whole Seer thing, as much as it sucks, is everything I've got!" Kyra retorted with just as much fervor.

"No, it's not! You have-"

"Shhhh," she soundly cut off the Double-Edged blonde, with a finger up to his lips for emphasis. "I know what you might wanna say. But you better not think about it. Don't even take a second to consider throwing away your life for me." Instantly he furrowed his brows in some sort of shocked contemplation, as that comment indeed hit him really close to home. A brief sigh and a lowered head later, he started to get it. A certain conversation he had with an old friend a good 20-and-some-change months ago began to flash right back into his mind, and he finally dawned on him. This was a part of that conversation he had with Cole when he tracked him down and tried to dissuade the then-nearly-118-year-old demonic human from allowing his love for Phoebe Halliwell to be the end of him. That was actually the emphatic poin the'd had to make then, for which he'd drawn on his understanding of Kyra, and it was that very point which she'd just thrown back at him, whether she realized (remembered watching) it or not.

And speaking of which, as he gazed back up to look her in the eyes again, he honestly couldn't tell whether she realized it or not. But there was something he could tell for sure, once again knowing her better than she seemed to know herself.

"You really do care about me a lot, too, don't you?" he finally reasoned, with a trace of hopefulness that she would finally start to see herself in a better light.

"Pretending I even have a conscience, which, again, I don't think I do, letting you die because of me would probably be the first huge, crushing weight on it," she conceded, which brought a small chuckle from the half-whitelighter. Though it wasn't a full-on 'I-really-do-have-feelings-after-all' admission, he figured that pushing that issue right now would be a little too cliché to do any good. Then came the confusion flood: "Which is why I want you to go to Valhalla."

"Wait, what? Valhalla?" was the only reply that he could sensibly muster. Especially considering he hadn't thought of where to go yet in all his shock at the situation, this choice of locale came totally out of left field.

"Yeah, Valhalla," she repeated to clarify. "The place with the warrior women? Where Leo's future son decided to banish him?"

"I know where you're talking about. I don't think I saw much, but what I did see looked pretty inviting," Derrick recalled.

"You mean the place or the Valkyries?" Kyra asked, knowing full well what she was implying there.

"Eh. Both," he casually shrugged it off. "But why'd you pick that destination for a place to go?"

"It's a place to live, you have no reason whatsoever to hide your powers there, and I think you're the kind of guy that can earn a close place with the Valkyries and practically be the man in their midst," Kyra plainly explained, still managing to be chipper as ever considering that this was supposed to be the moment she sent him away never to see each other again. "I want you to be somewhere you can be cared for, Derrick, and even though those women are really focused on training their warriors for the final battle between good and evil, I really think you can make them come around and see that you can help them out."

"But why would I want to?" he asked, still not seeing any reason he could have to go through with this.

"A: they're beautiful women. Don't be like Leo. Stop complaining," she immediately responded, getting straight to it this time. He felt like saying even the Valkyries wouldn't measure up to her, but he held his tongue, as that would defeat the purpose of 'stop complaining' and open up too many floodgates at a too predictable time. "B: it'll be a good way to pass the time until you figure out your next move. Sure as hell beats staying down here in this dreary little place we call the Underworld and boring yourself to death a couple more years, assuming you impossibly survive. C: who knows? You might actually enjoy it. And as far as a new purpose goes, having it connected to something involving that place makes perfect sense and could easily happen." Impressed at her well-placed reasoning, Derrick stood gob smacked for just a few seconds.

"Wow," was all he mustered, leading to a pause for a couple more seconds. "You really thought this through, didn't you?" he was then finally able to ask.

"Well, of course! It's not like I just said to myself, 'hey, why don't I just send Derrick to where all the beautiful women are!' I may look pretty and maybe even act a little cute, but I deserve a lot more credit for my brains than that, don't I?" she sharp-wittedly contended, only to receive another short pause of silence. It was as if Derrick wanted to stall his leave for as long as possible. She probably wouldn't admit it to herself, but subconsciously it took all she had not to do the same to the point where she wouldn't be able to go through with sending him away.

"Yeah," was his only solemn reply. With that, the whole gravity of the situation finally struck a deeper nerve with her. "You do. You deserve credit for a lot of things, in fact."

"Thanks," she uttered with a barely-there smile, before reaching out and hugging him. He, of course, gladly returned the embrace, and each held on for a long time, as if unwilling to let go solely because they knew they would have to eventually. It seemed like forever, before, almost 20 seconds later, they finally did indeed break the hug.

"I'm gonna miss you, Kyra," he told her, these words coming from the bottom of his heart. "More than you know."

"Me too. And… thank you. For never giving up on me, and always trying to help me," she stated in return. "Now go, Derrick. _Before_ every bloodthirsty creature down here starts looking in my direction for answers and stuff. I couldn't bear to see you get killed by one of them right in front of me now." Between these telling words coming out of her mouth which were very indicative her true heart and nature, though that would sadly no doubt be lost on her before she had time to think about what she said, the finality of the matter still registered with both of them.

"Is the pool set up?" he finally asked her.

"Yep. Just orb through and you should come out by a waterfall." she replied. Though, as soon as he moved… "Oh, wait!" He then stopped and turned to her one last time, allowing her to say: "Good luck."

"Thank you," was his near-silent reply. "And goodbye."

"Bye," was all she could barely muster at the end, as he disappeared into a sea of red orbs which immediately shot into the pool.

And out of a waterfall in Valhalla, seconds later, that same sea of red orbs popped up, hovered over land, and then reformed back into the red-coated mixed blood blonde again. Looking around him, he saw that it worked - he was standing on a trail surrounded on both sides by lush vegetation, healthy grass, and a lively-seeming mass assortment of trees. Behind the trail was a segmented waterfall which gave an appearance of it being two separate waterfalls going into the same stream of water - the one closer to the ground he stood on was obviously the one he came through. He barely got any time to look over at the waterfall before hearing an alarm sound off and turning sharply in the direction of the trail. He soon collected his bearings, though, realizing that this only meant they were looking for him. He still had plenty of time to get mentally ready, and he planned on using it.

He knew that he only had a few minutes left until the Valkyries eventually found him here, so he immediately tried to recall the main personalities that he needed to know about - especially Freyja, the Valkyries' obvious leader and apparently their queen despite the fact that she wasn't the one wearing the golden armored dress or the brown forehead band, instead having left that to her close subordinate Mist. Rather, he recognized Freyja as the one whose paramount beauty, flowing blonde hair which reminded him of one of his old hairdos, and authoritative attitude spoke for itself as to who she was. Of course, there was also Kara, who Kyra would call the very surly one. She was practically incapable of showing good faith in anyone that wasn't a Valkyrie from what he could tell, and he was actually quite surprised when he thought about her that he hadn't heard anything about her trying to rebel against their purpose and simply have them prepare to fight the final battle alone.

Though, thinking about Kara and what Kyra would say about her immediately distracted him, thanks to their names being so similar yet the latter's obviously being much more fondly familiar to his tongue and mind. And so, he was wrapped once more in thoughts of Kyra. That beautiful Seer back home - yes, he called that dim and dreary Underground cavern home, or now at least his former home, as opposed to just a decent lair - who was probably watching him right now and waiting for the Valkyries to finally get to him so he could get moving just the same as he was. The one who for years, he'd dedicated every fiber of his being to helping try to escape her empty existence as a Seer in the Underworld… quite frankly, if one looked at the situation realistically, for no reason terribly unlike why Cole had done everything in his power to try to be with Phoebe, literally at all costs. Immediately Derrick was panged with regret, the realization sweeping over him once again that the journey he was about to undertake would cement the goodbye that he had painfully shared with her earlier. With his head down, he sighed and turned towards the waterfall, as if yearning, wishing, to orb back to the lair and go back to the way things were before.

However, he had to shake his head momentarily, to shake that thought out of his system. There was no sense in trying to go back and compromising his own existence when there was no indication that it would do anything to help save hers.

And if he didn't already know that he there was no turning back now, he certainly knew it when he heard the call:

"Hey! You there!"

After pausing a few seconds, he would turn around and see the source of that call. It was the queen herself, accompanied by her two main demi-goddess sidekicks.

Freyja had found him.

"Care to tell us what you're here for? This island is hallowed ground!" she wasted no time in reminding him with authority. Oh, well. Guess it was time to dust off the old chomp's block. He needed some outlet for his present torrent of emotions, after all.

"I'm well aware of that, thank you," he finally stated in retort, taking off his sunglasses before going further. He'd probably regret it, but this was his chance to vent by being an ass. "See, I'm also well aware that you specifically are the queen on this hallowed ground. Now, here's where I'm lost. Am I supposed to be quakin' in my boots, or should I charm your pants off?"

"You disrespectful…! Get on your knees and apologize to Freyja right now, before I **make** you get on your knees!" Kara immediately stepped forward to commandingly respond, protective of her leader as always.

"Well, you could do that, but you see, if you use that cute little ability of yours to try to force me to get on my knees, you will have just annoyed your future champion into leaving and never coming back," he replied straight back, his tone growing in seriousness with every word.

"Our future champion, you say?" Freyja repeated, her curiosity clearly aroused by that insinuation.

"Yeah, and here's what I have going for me. For one thing, I'm living, so you'd enjoy me as your champion. Also, you can set any of your trained warriors against me, but here's the fact: none of them can beat me," he proudly boasted some more to assert his claim. "See, I win my fights," he started before pointing to his brain, "up here."

"He seems quite confident in himself," Mist, who'd basically been observing him the whole time to see if he really appeared to be someone capable of backing up claims as bold as the ones he was making.

"Well, I say he's boorish, crude, and an arrogant fool," Kara insisted. "Don't give in to any of his demands, Freyja. If he really wishes to be here, just put him to task in training just like any other warrior. That should teach him some humility."

"You're looking at the first, and possibly the only, half-vampire, half-whitelighter ever in history," he finally revealed to them, a statement to which they were stunned and caught completely off guard. "Lumping me in as any other warrior is categorically impossible. And speaking of boorish and crude, you're the one talking smack about me as if I'm not here right in front of me."

"That's it! He needs to learn who the masters of this domain are, Freyja," Kara nearly shouted, getting more than easily frustrated. "Cast him down and make him start from scratch. Then he will learn to bow down to us!"

"No," Freyja flatly refused. "We have to see firsthand what he can do before we decide what to do with him. You know that, Kara. Whether his personality is submissive or not at first should never make a difference as to how we judge a warrior."

"Then let me volunteer firsthand to fight him inside the cage myself," Kara suggested, choosing an option appealing to her leader's reasoning. Mist appeared to be quite shocked at the thought of this match happening, though.

"No! No, no, no, see that's not fair! I'm not gonna claim or pretend that I have this huge honor code, but one thing I don't like to do is to hit a woman if I can help it," Derrick tried to contend against facing her. Not to mention, he hoped the other two already saw, the lack of respect Kara would show to that inhibition, as clearly she would take advantage of it to pummel him.

"You _can't_ help it!" Kara cut off his train of thought. At least she was honest there. "You come to us with such a tone that you think you're already our king, insisting so brashly that you can be our champion, then you should expect the roughest possible test of your skills! And we are not ordinary women; we're demi-goddesses of the highest kind. We don't merely command our warriors with feminine wiles. There's a reason why **we** are the ones training **them** to get ready for the final battle! If you really didn't want to take me on, then you should've spoken carefully to not disrespect the queen!" Derrick couldn't help but be quite surprised at the passion for being a Valkyrie and especially for what they do that was clearly evident in Kara's voice at the moment. Even Freyja, and needless to say Mist as well, were actually caught agape at the depth of her faith.

"Wow," Derrick finally managed to utter after what seemed like a brief eternity, before eventually recollecting his bearings. "You really feel strongly about this thing, don't you?"

"I… think that goes without saying," Mist replied as she and Freyja slowly regained control of their own faculties as well.

"Well, then. Guess I'm an idiot for asking," he conceded. "So, let's just move on. Since you're really willing to do this, then I guess I can't help it. Let's get ready to do this."

* * *

NOTE: Cut… cut… hold it… cut it up!

Okay, sorry for trying to play director here, and I know I said this was gonna be a two-parter, and I also know I said this would be heavily focused on Valhalla, which the cutoff… but, ladies and gentlemen, that is categorically impossible right now. This is seriously a mid-game play here, but I can already sense this part is gonna too long to handle all in one stroke. And out of love, mercy, and respect for the peeps of Charmed, it can only stand as fair that I protect you guys from getting short-winded through one chapter and cut it in half. I'm actually almost done with the rest of this part as I type this, so I'm fairly confident in the certainty of what I'm talking about. So, out of the goodness of my heart, I've decided that this is actually going to be a three-parter with an official part 1b in the middle. Again, I'm mostly done with it, you can expect it to be in tomorrow, and of course, that is where Derrick's one hell of an eventful day really gets focused on setting him up for a stay in Valhalla.

By the way, apart from borrowing from Norse mythology, Valhalla as presented in these chapters is also the same Valhalla as presented from the opening episode of season 6, a real two-parter, Valhalley of the Dolls.. A hint to that: Valkyries are demigoddesses now because Freyja is a Valkyrie instead of a goddess. That has "Brad Kern creative team" written all over it.

May our destinies keep us safe, if that makes any sense. See you guys in the future… by about one day.

-Pac.

P.S. Special kudos goes to 1) whoever can figure out who the demon was that thoroughly used Kyra in the past to the point I depicted him in a piece of Love's Demonic Black Sheep as having stolen telepathy and used it to learn her name, and 2) whoever **other than Dragon and Sword Master** can answer as to who is this "Edge" that I would have playing Derrick if this was on the show and I were the casting agent. Thanks for reading and in advance for any reviews, all. See ya later!


	2. Part 1b

_**Crimson Concrete for a Thorny Rose**__ (part 1b)_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Connie Burge, Brad Kern, and co. I only own one character seen here, that being Derrick Serkan Brady, and the pieces of the storyline you are about to read that are not seen or hinted at on _Charmed_. Also, regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either are/were or would be portrayed by actual human beings with at least an iota of believable acting ability.

Rating: T

Summary: Follow-up to Love's Demonic Black Sheep set within pieces of season 7. Derrick's quest to save both Kyra and Cole comes closer to impossible through a heartbreaking setback which he must find the resolve to plow through and rise above.

* * *

NOTE: **Before I move any further**, in case anybody asks I would like to note that yes, I do remember that there is a character called Derek that actually is in the show. The father of a half-Manticore baby from season 6 who basically turned into a beast trying use potions to get strong enough to save his son (which might mean he's a witch, though he obviously doesn't know it). And I know his name has been added to the character entries. **However**… my character, not the same guy. The person I'd have playing my character is not the same guy either, which should be obvious, since I can't recall any time in history where Seth Peterson has ever been called "Edge" for any reason. And obviously even that first name's spelling is not the same. So I'm not gonna list that Derek as one of my focus characters and pretend that it's the same person. That would be misleading, and it would pointlessly take away from some of the actually important people.

Speaking of which, a certain trio of Valkyries is missing from the character entries as well. I'd better contact the admins to go do something about that.

Also, just in case it's not obvious anymore, Cole will be involved with this set, as he will arrive through part 2. (Remember, this is part 1b.) I wanted him to reappear at the end of this piece right here, but that's for the note at the end of this chapter to tell.

Last but not least… drama? Yes, folks, there is definitely a reason for me putting that genre up at second. One, this is definitely an adventure in the sense that it's gonna have a lot of action, so it wasn't gonna be first. Two, I couldn't tell which would be more prevalent between romance and friendship, and considering this isn't fluff, drama was the closest to a bridge between the two I could think of.

Now. What was promised in one day came in five (damnit). No sense in killing me over this, though. Between a design contest entry on the Charmed Destinys forum which took me longer than I thought, and then some buggy headaches and fatigue for awhile, I got pretty scattered. Not to mention I had to try to condense this chapter a bit, and even the idea I came up with for that failed to really do so. I'll explain that later as well. So without further ado, folks - on your marks; get set; enjoy the ride!

* * *

"Very well, then," Freyja decided, her air of authority swiftly revived. "Come with us. We'll be leading you to the cage." She turned around after that and started walking back along the trail from whence the Valkyries came. Derrick and Kara exchanged glares, while Mist looked between the two and could immediately sense the tension.

"Save the heat for the cage, both of you. Come on, let's go," the golden-garbed lieutenant quickly instructed, stepping between the two opponents as well to make sure she had their attention. She then finally turned to follow Freyja, Derrick and Kara simultaneously following suit, oddly side by side with each other despite the steely combative air between the two as they all made quicker steps to catch up with the leader.

"Mist, I need you to take a detour in order to inform Herja and her warriors," Freyja began, making sure to be loud enough for the other two to hear, as she figured they weren't as close by as Mist. "I want them to watch. This could be an entertaining little showdown."

"But are you sure you want everyone to know about this?" Mist asked, questioning her judgment a bit. "This is one of the most unprecedented events in the history of Valhalla. As soon as I tell them, they'll all want to be in on it."

"That's exactly why I'm having you alert them. I want them all to watch this. It benefits our purpose either way," Freyja replied, though she could soon see the look on the face of Mist as if the latter wanted to ask how so. "Either this becomes the lesson in respect Kara hopes it will be, or we're in luck and our visitor turns out to be as good as he says he is and provides much motivation for the other warriors to improve."

"If he is that good, do we make him our champion? We don't even know anything about him," Mist pointed out.

"You'd be surprised what someone could learn from watching a fight," Freyja informed her. "For the rest, we can just ask him afterwards."

"I see," Mist replied, finally ending the conversation, just as they were approaching warriors and another fellow Valkyrie. She pulled a detour in their direction as soon as they came for her. Meanwhile, back in the Underworld, a certain Seer was watching this all unfold through her magical seeing pool.

"Look at you, Derrick. Already becoming a champion," Kyra remarked wondrously with a wide smile on her face. "You will definitely fit right in in Valhalla." Unfortunately, she could feel that very shortly a really powerful force was coming in a matter of seconds, thus she would have to cut this magical video session short, both for Derrick's sake and for Valhalla's. So, she walked away from the pool, took a container of some hotly bubbling white liquid from the dresser.

"Sucks that I can't watch anymore, but I've gotta see this through," Kyra lamented, referring to her Double-Edged now-former companion as she went over to the pool and poured some of the liquid into it. The boiling material would seep and grow to cover the entire pool, so that the view of Valhalla through the pool was all but gone. She then walked back over to the dresser and put the container down again, and, knowing that her powerful visitor was here now, calmly walked over to the pool and hovered there, sweeping her left hand over it decisively so as to magically concentrate it for her next task. To greet her new guest, whose presence she'd finally managed to make out, she offered these words:

"Kind of an odd place for an Elder to visit."

Back at Valhalla, the closest of the open woodland areas around the island usually used as training grounds was once again occupied by a group with dedicated warriors and soldiers of all races and walks of life being overseen by a beautiful, though still obviously inferior to Mist and Freyja in that regard, yet vastly capable Valkyrie instructor. The spar that had taken most of her attention was a heavyweight spar between a large Viking-like man who once among two others chased the Charmed Ones to the main living world over a year ago against a more imposingly bulbous opponent covered in tribal face paint like a Fury. However, although she was captivated by the fight and impressed with the agility the rotund man showed in his attack, she still took notice of footsteps she could hear approaching behind her, turning around to see Mist making her way over to her.

"Mist!" the instructor called as she made her own advancing footsteps towards the second Valkyrie in command. They shared the usual Valkyrie greeting of exchanged kisses on the cheek before continuing. "What can I do for you? Did you bring us another new warrior, or-"

"Gather up the warriors, Herja. There's going to be a major battle coming up in the cage," Mist outright replied, confirming for this instructor exactly what was coming. The instructor Herja was visibly surprised, almost shocked, and even confused, since this kind of thing rarely if ever happens. Though, after a few seconds, at least the potential gravity of what was about to happen finally caught up with her, causing her to turn around towards the warriors.

"Everyone, stop!" she called, to which the warriors halted whatever they were doing, except for one long-haired man sharpening his axe until the bald samurai from last year's portal fiasco slapped him upside the head to stop. "Mist has come to tell us, gentlemen, that our fairest Freyja has summoned us all to the battle cage." This announcement came with immediate murmuring amongst the crowd of combatants as to what this could be for. Eventually some of the chatter would become somewhat contentious, which the two girls could see by some of the warriors pointing at one another as they continued.

"Enough!" Mist finally screamed, to which the grumbling would come to a screeching halt. Everyone turned to the Valkyries, specifically Mist, who was ready to explain what was going on. "The intruder that the alarm sounded for has agreed to prove his worth… by fighting Kara, inside the cage." Herja immediately gasped and became frozen in awe, and moans of shock became the norm amongst the warriors now. It was actually a very rare occasion when a Valkyrie would actually do battle inside the cage.

"This fight's set to take place immediately within minutes. We have no time to waste. Freyja's waiting, and she insists that everyone watch this. So come on, everyone. Let's go," she finished, signaling for everyone to follow her as she and Herja turned around and walked off, back towards the trail in the direction of the cage. The warriors followed suit, some minimal sidebar conversation ensuing between a few of them to a minimal degree.

"What in the world is going on?" Herja whispered to her superior in a sidebar of their own. "This kind of thing never happens! Any Valkyrie in the cage is almost unheard of, let alone one of you, one of the leading three! And over some intruder?"

"Kara herself insisted on the battle when she felt the visitor was being disrespectful. She is the stormy one, after all," Mist explained.

"Let me guess: he played some sexual innuendo card, didn't he?" Herja ventured a guess.

"When she rages, she storms, but you should know by now that it's never without some reason," Mist replied vaguely enough.

"So he did, didn't he?" Herja repeated, Mist nodding this time. "I don't know who this guy is, but she is gonna kill him!"

"I think I have a good grasp as to what the rules are, but I'd like a bit of a refresher course, just to be sure," Derrick stated as he stood with Freyja and Kara in front of the cage, several other Valkyries standing guard nearby.

"Using powers under this roof is impossible thanks to our barrier, and the battle goes on until I knock you out," Kara explained, certain to toss in a confident note about her chances.

"You knock me out? That's the only way? You're not even giving me a chance here?" Derrick questioned, taking offense to her implication.

"You knocking me down for the count in a straight fight without even a weapon is impossible," Kara contended, as Freyja turned to the other Valkyries playing security.

"Prepare the cage for us," the head Valkyrie ordered, to which one of the guards, a somewhat oriental-looking brunette, came to the cage and opened the door for the two soon-to-be opponents, one Valkyrie and one Double-Edged newcomer.

"After you," Kara stated, presenting the way for Derrick.

"No, no, no, go ahead. Ladies first," Derrick refused, instead opting to return the gesture she showed him.

"Fine. Doesn't really make a difference anyway," the butch demigoddess conceded, leading the way as she and Derrick entered the cage, the latter offering the guard Valkyrie his shades to hold for the time being. Said guard Valkyrie then closed the cage and with a sweep of the hand magically protected it so that nothing could break in or out.

"All is as you asked," the guard stated to Freyja.

"Perfect. The others should be here shortly. Let's all take our seats to watch this," Freyja decided, to which she and all of the other Valkyries approached the wall, or specifically the spectator's platform close to the wall, and either made a leap or a climb to ascend to the platform and reach their seats. Of course, Freyja took the central and most royal-looking seat, which also carried the best view of the action. Just as she began to recline in her chair, Mist and Herja arrived with the warriors in tow, going up the steps just inside the room to access the platform. The warriors, of course, stood below.

"Is that every single one of the high charting warriors?" Freyja asked Mist and Herja as they approached.

"Yes," Mist confirmed as the two finally reached her and took their seats on either side of her.

"Good. Now to call for the first move," Freyja replied, before standing up. "Ladies and gentlemen!" Immediately all eyes were fixed on her. "As you all probably know, you've been brought here to witness a special event. For the first time in any form of recent memory, a Valkyrie will be doing battle inside the cage, as our very own Kara takes on this stranger inside who insists that he can become the next champion of Valhalla without any weapons."

"A fool who would take on a Valkyrie without a weapon be the next champion?" one of the warriors, specifically the magi from the Halliwell incident, spoke up. "I'd venture a guess he's likely to become roadkill." The other warriors got a chuckle out of his comment, and oddly enough, so did Derrick himself.

"We'll certainly have to see about that," she commented on the warriors' assumptions, before turning to the waiting combatants. "Now; attack!"

With that finally said, Derrick and Kara turned their attention to one another once again, both approaching slowly step by step.

"I'll have you know, I have a lot of pent up aggression to work out right now. So if this gets hairy, I'm not responsible for what happens," he threatened her, thinking it a wise warning.

"I'll have _you_ know that it'll take a lot more than that idle threat to intimidate me," Kara retorted, right after which she immediately spun and landed a backhand square on the side of jaw. The force of the hit rendered him both favoring the jaw and on one knee for several seconds, but he soon picked himself up. Kara, prepared for it, drove a knee into his midsection to double him over. She then fired off a roundhouse kick, the side and back of his head throbbing as he went down. Outside the cage, the warriors were cheering and the Valkyries were clearly showing disappointment and boredom, indicating that they all seemed to think that it was the end of the fight.

Derrick, however, would make it to his feet in a few seconds. Kara swung for another roundhouse, but Derrick would catch her by the boot to block it before it could hit his ribs. He then pushed her leg up to take her off balance. She turned it into a full backflip and landed on her feet. Derrick swung a roundhouse punch and hit only air as Kara ducked, same with his following backhand. She then hit a round punch of her own to his face, following up with a hard boot to his midsection. Her foot then graced his forehead. He stumbled into the cage, and its magic shot him off. With a painful groan, he found himself on his knees. Once again the warriors started cheering at Kara's dominance and assuming it was over. They would quiet down again as he picked himself back up.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that," Kara admitted while looking a little perplexed. After wiping some sand off his face, Derrick turned and noticed her expression.

"You look confused," he pointed out to her, before breaking out into a grin. "Maybe you didn't know that I'm a glutton for punishment. Though, I'm guessing now you'll wanna indulge me til I can't take any more, huh?"

"You read my mind," Kara confirmed, then quickly went for a body blow. He blocked this one with both hands and wrenched her arm in an arcing motion. She moved herself free with a full 360° front flip, then wrench his arm in return. She thrust an elbow into his shoulder, the pain causing him to wince. She then went for a hook kick, but he was able to free himself and duck it in time. She turned around and his boot connected with her stomach, then she got her legs swept out from underneath her. A few stomps to her stomach followed next. She eventually was able to counter by swiping his leg. As he fell, she quickly got up, and approached him to do more damage. He made it to his feet as well and just as quickly extended his right boot to her face. She went down hard as he had time to catch his breath a little.

She collected herself seconds later, getting back up and charging at him. He was able to sidestep her, but she saw it coming, stopped, and turned around. The two seized each other up, moving carefully in front of each other, before she swung a roundhouse kick, which he would dodge. He then rushed and went for a clothesline. She ducked it and then entered a stance, waiting for him to turn around. Once he did so, he found himself falling to a leg lariat and crashing against the sand once more. As he struggled to sit up and shake the cobwebs in his head, his back felt a stabbing kick even through the jacket drive him right back down on it. Next he'd sustain a leg quickly dropping across his throat and a thought going through his mind that this was not his best day.

Kara then posed with her arms, playing to the crowd a bit as the warriors once again applauded the third island favorite. She then heard a choked out breath and turn to see him rolling over. She dragged him over and then up to his knees by the hair, before grabbing him in a facelock and applying pressure onto his neck.

"Give it up!" she commanded, certainty at her chances showing through her voice as she continued to punish his head between her arm and her side. Instead, he screamed out for a second, punched her twice in the gut to loosen the hold, got his body under hers, and used it to flip her over on her back. Moving between the slowly rising Kara and the cage, Derrick looked back and forth as he saw an opportunity. As soon as she got up, Kara rushed in his direction and wound find herself sidestepped, pushed into the cage, and knocked over by its magic barrier almost to the center of the battlefield. She rolled against the sand as she hit it and used that momentum to stand back up, then ran up to him. He started to extend for another big boot, but pulled back as she stopped. She quickly saw her chance and took him down from under with a chop block. She picked up the leg she'd just attacked and exerted her strength by swinging him around Mario 64 style. She released and sent him flying into the cage, thinking its magic would provide the finishing blow. However, he was able to spin his legs in front of it and kick against the barrier, shocking her as he swooped straight towards her with a major flying clothesline!

The Valkyries watching couldn't help but moan in shock at what they'd just seen. Except for Mist and Freyja. They were awfully taken back, but still composed enough not to sound off about it. Most of the warriors, meanwhile, either emulated one of the Valkyrie reactions or gave Derrick a standing ovation for his efforts. A bit tired, visibly panting, but back up on his feet, he took note of the crowd reaction, turning and pointing to the one that had predicted he would become road kill.

"That is getting it done **without** a weapon!" he screamed out with a frustrated ferocity, rendering that trooper at the mercy of all his compatriots' ridicule for a few seconds. Derrick then turned once again to Kara, who was catching some breath and bearings of her own while picking herself up off the sand. He tried to lunge at her as if going for a spear, but she acrobatically jumped over him and let him fall and slide eating sand. He stopped dangerously close to the cage. This got him to slink back before getting up to his knees. He turned around to see an Amazon-like leg swinging for his head. He ducked and heard the "whoosh" develop over him. While her back was turned, he quickly crawled forward get his head between and his shoulders under her legs. Sensing what was coming, as soon as he lifted her off her feet, she quickly shoved her way free and landed on them again. He turned around, and found his neck gripped tightly, his frame lifted off the ground, his family jewels kneed painfully to the sound of a moaning crowd, his cheek slapped red with a strong left backhand, and his body thrown down back first into the sand. Still, he fought and grimaced and tried to sit up, though a low side kick to the chest would soon take care of that. Well, the trying to sit up part, anyway.

Finally seeing that he was finished, Kara was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief and catch her breath as well. Silence enveloped the entire area for a time with all spectator faces wowed completely until Kara looked over to the throne seat and locked eyes with Freyja. The queen Valkyrie then finally collected herself and stood up, becoming the first to clap her hands at the spectacle they just saw. Mist and Herja followed suit, followed gradually by the warriors and the other Valkyries, until everyone was providing both combatants a standing ovation except a short-haired blonde Valkyrie who went over to undo the barrier magic and open the cage. Kara walked out of the cage with somewhat of a limp, which the awaiting blonde noticed on the spot.

"Kara, are you alright?" the concerned follower asked, the ovation dying down in the background by now.

"Yeah," Kara assured her, before looking back at the man inside the cage. "I'd say he needs the help after that one. Just can't believe the guy actually made me work up a sweat." As Kara walked away, the curt blonde rushed into the cage to tend to the fallen mixed blood visitor in their midst. Derrick could see a looming shadow from the corner of his eye even as he laid there, panting and wincing in pain.

"Hey- no," he said through heavy breaths, knowing that it was a Valkyrie. She was crouched and about to move him, but she stopped in her tracks as the other Valkyries outside of Mist, Kara, and Herja came in as well. "I've had a… tough hell of a… day, so… I think I'll… be alright if… I just rest… here for now." Knowing that his words were barely but still audible, he let himself lay limp on the ground and just fell asleep. The Valkyries looked back and forth between him and each other, as did the warriors, who had all come closer to the cage but stayed to the outside.

"You heard him," Freyja spoke through the silence that had started to envelop the area. "Let him be. Come on, everyone. Let's go." She walked out of the cage, leading the Valkyries and the warriors in finally leaving him alone to rest. Mist looked a little curious at this action, perhaps sensing something in Freyja's direction from it. Freyja, Mist, Kara, and Herja met up near the center of the room as the rest of the Valkyries started filing out.

"I have to take the warriors back to their training ground," Herja informed the main trio immediately.

"Very well," Freyja approved. "Mist will be with you shortly."

"Thank you," Herja accepted, before turning towards the warriors and directing them out from the cavern.

"To get my two cents outta the way first," Kara began as the triumvirate in charge began to slowly walk out in the same direction as most of the other Valkyries, "I still wanna say that we should put him down in the same boat as all the others for the disrespect he showed earlier, but I even know a few Valkyries who can't make me work up a sweat like that."

"And none of the other warriors here have ever contested any of us so strongly when we were actually trying," Mist added, showing her understanding and relative agreement with the direction the others seemed to be leaning in as well.

"I also paid attention to his style," Freyja replied, inserting her own wisdom. "It's ferociously base, yet also refined in the way that he can turn a situation around or sense an opportunity."

"He was also very aggressive, and kind of a glutton for punishment. I think it definitely speaks to his being a half vampire," Mist stated guessingly.

"Or it could be a sign that he's somehow conflicted and trying hard to put all of something together," Freyja estimated further as both Mist and Kara looked at her questioningly. "I told you, Mist. You'd be surprised at what someone could learn from watching a fight. I've paid close attention to him the whole time he's been here. He was uncouth in our first encounter, but he was never hostile. Then during the fight, he said he was working through some pent-up frustration, a statement his aggression backs up. And afterwards, he knowingly refused the medical help we could've provided. He's actually content with sleeping in the cage for the time being." The other two seemed very caught by her observations. "I have a feeling that him becoming our champion would help him as much as it would help us. However, I'm still not about to just haphazardly declare such a thing without putting the proper thought into how to manage him first."

"That seems about right," Mist stated, showing her accord with Freyja, as Kara nodded her own agreement. "While we're on that subject, there's the small matter of figuring out his feeding habits because he's actually a full living being…"

As they continued to deliberate the issue of their visitor, so did he continue to rest up. The atmosphere in Valhalla became increasingly anxious by the hour as the prospect of a new champion coming only as soon as a year since Leo Wyatt began to increasingly resonate with the population. The warriors began to show more zest in their training, Herja and even Mist finding them more earnest to improve their skills than ever before, having seen a clear enough grasp of what a top Valkyrie can do to know that they had much work to do. This was especially evident in a certain three: the black hooded fighter who'd disparaged Derrick earlier, the martial artist monk, and the large brave, all comprising the trio that had actually fought the three head Valkyries in San Francisco during the Leo incident last year.

Eventually, as the sky darkened hours later, Derrick would come awake. First he began to stir and wince ever so slightly, then he would recognize the feeling in his arms enough to rub his eyes. Once he felt said eyes were clear, they came open, and he focused his efforts on gingerly getting to his feet, careful not to rush it and hyperextend a certain part that Kara had attacked hours ago. Once up, he commenced to shaking some sand out of his clothing and hair, after which he looked up and finally took notice of the three women standing right in front of the cage he was inside.

"Congratulations. You were very impressive in here today, so much that you've earned the title of champion of Valhalla," Mist disclosed to him.

"And that's despite you being a completely arrogant fool in the beginning," Kara made sure to note further. "By the way," she continued, revealing his sunglasses in her hand, which she then tossed through into his, "I think these are yours." As the information slowly registered to his still somewhat sleep fogged brain, he nodded in acknowledgement and placed the shades in his pants pocket.

"Okay. I, uh, guess I should say thank you," he uttered with a pause in between as the words slowly came to him.

"Don't sweat it. Just make yourself comfortable and don't get crude with Freyja again, and we'll be fine," Kara advised him.

"We'll come back for you again tomorrow. Perhaps then, you'd like to tell us about yourself. Like your name, for example," Freyja told him. She started to walk away with her lieutenants, but turned back after a few steps, unaware that he'd shaken his head clear while her back was turned. "For now, just keep resting well."

"Where are you people going?" Derrick asked, loud enough to get and keep the attention of all his assuming captors.

"Out. To supervise, as we usually do," Freyja replied, completely forgoing the part that would result in an ethics complaint in any developed society. Though he'd soon remind her of it.

"Uh… no. No way. Not before getting me outta here, no way," he retorted, violently shaking his head.

"Our champions are accustomed to that cage as a home," Kara told him flatly. "Though, that's something you should be well aware of already, considering you claim to know so much about us here."

"Oh, I'm well aware. I understand. But here's something that _you_ need to understand. **I, am not Leo,**" he strongly countered. "Nor am I any of those chump stains who our match just completely wowed to the point of a stunned ovation because up until now they had no idea that it's possible to be this good. I remember watching through a Seer's pool as three of those guys went crazy on Earth and fought you in a stalemate, yet each and every single one looked like now they know you could've killed them easy back then, and so could I at anytime. More importantly, unlike Leo, I came here of my own volition. I was never forced here. There is no conceivable reason why you should have to keep me in this cage."

"You wanted this so badly, yet you can't handle any of the tradition that it entails. I could've sworn you were tougher than that," Kara retorted in a play to cast expursions on his manhood.

"I'm not complaining because I personally can't handle it. I'm complaining because I genetically can't handle it. Let me reiterate, I'm half vampire. Me bieng half Whitelighter too may quell it down a bit, but I still have a hyper enough metabolism. So Freyja!" he turned and called after addressing Kara's complaint, causing the leader to tense up and pay attention. "I'm just gonna tell you the only two options you have, and this isn't some ultimatum, it's just fact. One: let me roam outside this cage, I will personally make sure these rookies you call warriors can start pulling rank around here. Two: keep me locked in. Feed me little morsels of rice and water. See how quickly my body kicks in, goes insane with hunger, and kicks the bucket. The ball's in your court, Freyja, so come on. What are you gonna facilitate? Their rise, or my fall?" Freyja and her sidekicks then turned back towards each other in a brief moment of communication before facing him again.

"What do you guys think?" Kara asked her compatriots. "Should we hear him out?"

"I think I have an idea what his conditions will be," Mist stated confidently.

"Still, we should hear him out. Just to be sure what exactly he wants," Freyja clarified as she and her counterparts awaitingly looked at the red-coated champion.

"One, I can sleep in here, but I can't be locked in here like some kind of animal," he immediately stressed. "Two, I need to be able to leave the island for some time every day to get my proper nourishment. Don't worry, it won't be on people. Three, if I make any request to take a trip for any good reason, you have to let me go. In return, I will personally ensure marked improvements in the abilities of your soldiers."

"I actually think that's a bit steep, don't you?" Kara expressed mainly to Mist and Freyja.

"Absolutely it is. Luckily for our guest champion, though, I'm actually prepared to do one better and provide an adequate test all in one," Freyja stated, peaking the interest of the man in the cage.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" he asked quickly.

"I can't see any reason why you would make that third request unless you actually had someplace you needed to go even now," she began to explain. "We'll let you out, and allow you take that trip. But Mist and Kara will be there, watching your every move."

"Excuse me?" a familiar male voice, deeper than Derrick's, suddenly interrupted the conversation. They quarreling quartet turned to find the dark, almost silhouette-like figure of the warrior who'd predicted Derrick would be road kill, without the hood over his ordinary black head of hair.

"Darrius, what are you doing here alone at this hour?" Mist immediately asked the man.

"Herja's still evaluating our techniques. She was finished with me, so she decided to send me to find out what you were doing with our new warrior," the warrior apparently known as Darrius replied.

"Well, you're in luck. I was just explaining him the nature of a test to determine under what condition he would be our champion… and this is just a thought, but you may actually come in handy here, Darrius," Freyja vocally realized.

"How so?" the mage-like soldier inquired with an eagerness to please and a curious interest.

"Wait- hold on. He's coming along too, isn't he?" Derrick took a sharp guess, to which Darrius furrowed his brows.

"Well done," Freyja praised his quick brain as she turned to him. "Yes. Mist, Kara, and Darrius will accompany you on one trip right now, wherever you may choose. They will be watching your every move, but they will not interfere unless you do something to warrant such a move. If they don't have to interfere, we will create another pendant to be yours as our token of accepting you like one of our own. **However**," she made sure to add, "if you give them any reason to have to step in against you, then I can promise that you will be even more tightly guarded as a champion than your Elder friend Leo was."

"Perfect. Aside from the assumption that I'm friends with Leo, I understand," Derrick replied, showing his accord. Mist finally opened the cage door and let him out.

"So, where do you have in mind?" the latter would ask. Derrick smiled at that question, having long internalized exactly where he wanted to go.

* * *

NOTE: Once again I find myself saying cut and hold the horses like a director. This part was actually a bit even longer than this when finished. Obviously, that would've been a more complete train wreck on you guys' ability to keep reading on… hell, I can honestly say it even did that to me… but don't worry. I didn't cut the rest out never to be seen again. Unfortunately, this means that a) I have to hold off even later for Cole's appearance, and b) part 2 now has to be merged with part 1c. _Which already looks really bad for me, but what can I do?_

And that's even despite the fact that I had to edit the direction I was going in to eliminate an element of character drama. Originally I had Kara still not liking or trusting Derrick at all whatsoever despite the fact that he did so well against her in the battle. Now I have her a bit cautious but still generally accepting and willing to go with things because he earned some respect from her. The dialogue was a bit short, but probably not really enough.

Now, to address a couple new names involved. Herja and Darrius. No, they are not OCs. And since I featured Darrius plenty of times before I even mentioned his name, that dot could've easily been connected about him before I even said anything just now. He was the black guy (played by Damion Poitier) among those three warriors from Valhalley of the Dolls who chased the Charmed Ones through that portal out of Valhalla and… you know what, I've stated that a thousand times too. Anyway, I wanted a name that sounded believable for a black warrior type of character, and the first thing I thought of was Darrius, with two 'r's as spelled in the name of the character from _Mortal Kombat: Deception_.

And much like Mist and Kara, Herja is an old Norse mythological Valkyrie name. It means "devastate", and it's pretty short, so I thought it went well with the Valkyrie that supervised the warriors and corrected the Asian monk guy who under-rotated and fell on his ass in Valhalla's intro scene. (Freyja's actually the name of a goddess loosely related to Valhalla, which is probably where Brad Kern's team got the idea for Valkyries to be demigoddesses and for that name to be involved with a queen/leader.)

Here's to hoping you guys are not dead from my author psychobabble. Onto the next piece of the show… whenever that is. I seriously don't know when that's coming, because I'm kinda waiting on somebody's advice. There's a character a friend allowed me to use for this whole thing, but I need his help to know exactly how I'm gonna introduce her into all this… ah, that's enough. See you guys later!

-Pac.


	3. Parts 1c and 2

_**Crimson Concrete for a Thorny Rose**__ (parts 1c and 2)_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Connie Burge, Brad Kern, and co. I only own two characters seen here, they being Derrick Serkan Brady and the Kentman, and the pieces of the storyline you are about to read that are not seen or hinted at on _Charmed_. Also, regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either are/were or would be portrayed by actual human beings with at least an iota of believable acting ability.

Rating: T

Summary: Follow-up to Love's Demonic Black Sheep set within pieces of season 7. Derrick's quest to save both Kyra and Cole comes closer to impossible through a heartbreaking setback which he must find the resolve to plow through and rise above.

* * *

NOTE: First off, sorry I took so long, folks. I took some distractions and my creative juices ended up on hiatus for a spell.

Now for my review buddy for this part of the program, Siamese; about these being pretty long; crap. I tried to cut 'em short, but apparently I've only succeeded in comparison to my Love's Demonic Black Sheep notes. In that one, I felt like I had to elaborate _everything_.

And it's kinda funny that you say I'm using the Norse myth concepts from Valhalley of the Dolls a lot better than the show did, cause I'm basing my use of it from their use of it, complete with basically the same characters. Maybe it was just the fact that I gave the characters a lot more credit than locking up Leo because of future Chris, but if it's not that, you'll have to tell me. Also, I agree completely that this is very different, because this is not where I'm trying to put heavy focus on the Charmed Ones. There's time for that later. And later will come with what I do after this.

* * *

_Part 1c_

"There's someone in the Underworld, and yes, she's a demon, who I've been around for awhile. I'd like one last opportunity to go and see her," he explained, rendering himself privy to suspicious gazes from both Kara and Darrius. "And don't worry; she's harmless." Their stares lost some notable intensity at that reassurance, but were still very visibly wary in his direction. Mist, meanwhile, took off the pendant from around her neck and gave it to him.

"Think about where you want to go, and just lightly press the gem," she instructed him, referring to the gem at the front end of the necklace. He nodded in understanding and did exactly as she said, a whirlpool vortex portal appearing near the group outside the cage as proof.

"Thanks," he acknowledged, giving her the pendant back. "Well, then. Let's go." He next would lead the way as everyone not named Freyja walked into the vortex… and out of it on the other side, as the gateway disappeared As he looked around about him now, Derrick breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he was now right back to where this whole thing had started for him - Kyra's lair. As for Kyra herself? He caught sight of her laying peacefully, still beautiful as ever, looking sound asleep on what appeared to be a kind of bed erected of concrete. Within seconds he was eyeing and approaching her as if in some sort of trance. The makeshift watchdog trio looked at him curiously, wondering what he was thinking and, more importantly to some degree, what he was preparing to do.

Derrick felt a surge of emotions flowing through him with every step he took until he was standing at the sleeping beauty's side, thinking about everything over the past nearly two years that had led them to this point. After their attempt, with mixed results, to save Cole Turner's life, Derrick and Kyra hadn't really had much luck at all finding another demon who was like them. Whether it was watching the lives of the Halliwell family through the pool, which they gradually came to do much less frequently and attentively than in the past when Cole was around, or scouring the Underworld or even other magically laced cities upside apart from San Francisco, every demon or exotic creature that they'd witnessed or encountered that wasn't considered part of the magical community that the Charmed Ones serve was either driven by evil bents and objectives. They'd even witnessed glimpses of an Elder turning into one evil, manipulative, self-righteous bastard, yet never seen an actual demon show much moral decency, let alone a shred of heart. They'd also never been able to find anything on how to save Cole or even to find out where he'd ended up after his supposed final vanquish at Phoebe's hands. It had gotten to the point he was seriously wondering if maybe he was going about this all wrong anyway, and she'd begun to seriously contemplate that they were both destined to fall while looking for whatever it was that was supposed to save her.

Of course, he was never willing to give up easy at all, so he kept looking around until he heard about another way. During the time when Piper and Leo reconciled earlier this year and found out that Chris Perry was actually their son from the future, all in one very special turn of events, Derrick and Kyra ended up hearing about another plane of some sort. Perhaps this was the key, they'd thought then. Perhaps Cole was in another plane of existence, not necessarily life or death itself, that they would have to find and get him out of. However, looking into this angle would soon come with a counter discovery: they had no way of knowing exactly how to access other planes, let alone which one they needed to go through. Thus, for a time, someone with such ability and/or information became object of his searching missions.

The other day, they'd actually found a lead on some demons with a connection to the astral plane that they were planning on asking around about, but then everything was thrown into reverse by the premonition that Kyra had suddenly found about their future earlier today. Some sort of a threat, a new power, was going to start making its move, and with the Underworld near-completely void of actually competent Seers, she would end up becoming a go-to figure. Eventually, she would end up discovering a beautiful vision apparently from this new power which would render her a traitor to the Underworld. She would finally end up meeting with the Charmed Ones through some strange twist of fate she still hadn't quite figured out, and at the end of the day, she was going to get killed at the hands of a complete bastard she recognized as Zankou. The most disconcerting part of that vision was, of course, that Derrick was nowhere to be found within all of this. Which is exactly why he'd had to leave to Valhalla - because otherwise, his lack of presence meant he would've gotten killed before the main drama ever started.

As he thought now about how the key to saving had indeed been so close yet so far away all along, his hand couldn't help but to place itself underneath her jaw and rub its across onto her cheek, as if gently consoling her There was no getting around what he felt for this woman, this Seer, this demon. She had his heart completely, because he knew that she deserved it even if she didn't realize it. It wasn't just her body, her beautiful face, and the infectious personality that she displayed through it all. That's what made it easy to like her. But it was the fact that even though she was a full demon, she still had this desire for love, companionship, all the good things in life, that needed to be quenched. She literally transcended her own demonhood, and everything that she is actually came from that. Without question, this is why he loved her.

Neither Derrick, nor Kyra, nor the Valhalla dwellers watching at the moment had a clue that there was someone else here. They had no idea because this someone else was Cole Turner himself. Stuck in a void between life and death, Cole could continue to walk the Earth and the Underworld at will, but was nowhere within its line of sight whatsoever. He knew that whoever put him here instead of letting him truly die and go rot in the Wasteland had done him a great service, but at the same time set him up to pay an eternal penance. He was always alive, and within the world, but never exactly a part of it. Today, though, recalling the day Derrick had helped him see clearly, he'd grown curious as to who exactly Kyra was, a notion that drove him to scour the Underworld until he finally found the lair with her inside. He did nothing the hour since but watch over Kyra sleeping, and in recent minutes witness Derrick, two Amazon-looking women he supposed were Valkyries, and some other strange fellow, arrive through a portal. He saw Derrick now looming over Kyra, not ominously, but longingly, as if wanting to do more than just put his hands on her and stroke her hair back as the blonde did at the moment. He didn't know what was going on, but he could tell that they were ripped apart by something. His heart went out to Derrick right now.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Kyra. And I wish I could tell you just how sorry I am, but there are some things that a moment dictates are better left unsaid," he finally spoke in a near whisper from the bottom of his heart to the object of his unrealized affection. "There's still something I have to do, though… a feeling I have to know… before I can walk away once and for all." He then crouched and leaned over, his face and specifically his lips ever approaching hers, until he at last came down with a tender kiss. Mist, Darrius, and Kara finally understood enough of what was going on that all three of them were able to rest easy. As he slowly rose back to a full vertical base and stroked his own hair back, he continued to eye Kyra a bit longer, wanting to take it all in for his memory's sake. This was the last time he'd ever get to see her, after all.

Eventually, as he was satisfied that he would remember the way he saw her just now, he would nod to himself, breathe a heavy sigh, and slowly turn and walk towards the Valkyries and Darrius.

"Are you okay?" Mist asked in concern, making sure to speak quietly enough so as not to disturb the demon woman on the concrete bed. Before answering her question, however, he would take a final glance back towards Kyra.

"Ready as I'll ever be," was his final reply, still looking at Kyra despite directing that towards the others. A new portal would appear, this one activated by Kara while Mist comfortingly placed her hand on his shoulder. He turned towards the golden one and noted her understanding gaze, before facing forward again and walking through the portal alongside them and the warrior they'd come with. The others followed suit, and soon they were all back on the side of the portal from whence they came as it disappeared. Oblivious to the wide smile that just overcame the seer's features, the crossing foursome were all back at the cage and throne cavern in Valhalla facing Freyja once again.

"How did everything go? Was he any trouble?" Freyja asked once she saw them all back.

"Surprisingly, none at all," Kara reported, though the only surprise Freyja took from that was who was able to say it. "Except if you count that he's in love."

"Okay, now please explain to me how that's a problem," Derrick demanded, irritated at the mock expursion Kara just cast.

"Would you quit getting touchy? It's not really a problem," Kara explained, making some attempt at humor out of it. Derrick simply sighed and shook his head.

"It seems all is merry. Relatively, anyway. Very well, then. Darrius, you can tell Herja to expect a visit from our champion tomorrow morning," Freyja informed the tagalong warrior.

"Thank you. I'll be taking my leave to report this to her immediately," Darrius replied.

"Go as you please," Mist approved, prompting him to nod and walk out of the area. The three Valkyries turned again to the vamplighter.

"Thanks for sending him off. I didn't want him to be here for what I'm about to say," he informed them.

"What is it?" Mist inquired to let him go on.

"It's my name," he began, preparing them. "It's Derrick Brady, but I have the demonic middle name of Serkan which, obviously, I usually went by in the Underworld. I still wanna go by my middle name here when it comes to the warriors, but since I respect and trust the three of you, I'm willing to let you Valkyries go ahead and call me Derrick."

"Well, then, Derrick, we hope you enjoy your stay here in Valhalla, because I have a feeling it's gonna be very fruitful," Mist responded with a smile ,getting a chuckle out of Derrick. As smiles gradually crept on the faces of Kara and Freyja, the latter was already starting to think about the pendant that would be in his future.

Back at a certain lair below some nine hours or so later, at the moment she finally stirred, began to wake herself, got up out of the concrete bed, and waved it to disappear, Cole was still watching Kyra in spirit. She felt a strange sense of glee powering her as she woke. But in the coming minutes, as she thought about it, and tried to figure out exactly why it was this way, only for it to all fade as quickly as would a dream, she saw that all that was there for her for the rest of her days was the same demonic. Thinking of how sickly fate must have teased her in some cruel way, she fell victim to sadness and tasted tears, her back turned so as for no demon who would ever happen to pass by to see her face.

"Damnit, Derrick," Cole whispered helplessly as he watched and saw her tear-streaked face. "Looks like you missed by three little words." And as his spirit faded away once again, drops of water would leave her eyes due to despair at the cruelty of fate regularly on and off for the rest of this day.

Unfortunately for them, they were being watched the entire time, and not just by Cole Turner. Even he completely missed the snake in the room.

* * *

_Part 2_

Six and a half months later, Valhalla is still as beautiful and tropical as ever. Waterfalls are still vibrantly flowing with water, the trees and vegetation continue to be full of life, and so much of what was the order of life continues to be the order of life. There are still at least twenty Valkyries across the entire island, each apart from Freyja, Mist, and Kara supervising a core of warriors. The main crop, trained under Herja, that got to join the Valkyries in watching Derrick and Kara's battle, has added some new blood to its ranks, two through advancing by the other crops and one through impressing upon his entry. The big man from Darrius' notorious trio wound up demoted from the top line due to disappointing more often than not of late.

At the moment, about nine Valkyries took their places outside the bamboo cage in order to closely watch a certain monk in what appeared to be the same navy blue jumpsuit as always take on a long-haired blonde man wearing a thick black trench coat along with a set of long black tights. The monk blocked a couple of the coated one's punches and kicked him hard in the chest, before knocking him down with a jump spinning heel kick. He then did a high flip jump over the blonde, in order to pick up a big sword laying on the ground. The blonde, who at this point anybody just walking in could see was Derrick, picked himself up swiftly enough to see the monk with the blade in hand. He charged toward the monk, who then did another high flip jump over him again. He quickly turned around a second later, walking the monk's way. The monk swung that sword once, he ducked. Another swing. Down to the floor, roll away to create some room. That subtle motion caused the monk to come running at him and land with egg… I mean, a large boot imprint on his face. After taking a second to catch his breath, Derrick looked down at the bald warrior grimacing and had a bit of a smirk creeping on as if he was enjoying this.

"You still don't understand," Derrick said, before grabbing the warrior and helping him up by the head. "You lack something essential." Dragged the monk running by the back of the head. "Your instincts are too raw!" Same time as he threw the monk forward into the cage, whose force field knocked him all the way to the center on his back. Seeing the monk grimacing while trying to sit up, Derrick calmly approached him.

"You've gotten a little better," he acknowledged as he started to go down, only to wind up kicked snap in the jaw. As Derrick turned around favoring his jaw, the monk quickly took the opportunity to get back to his feet. He rushed over to go for a punch. Derrick suddenly recovered with a block. A well-timed arm wrench and knee to the gut later, the monk was flipping to the ground on his back. Seeing that he wasn't going to attack again this time, Derrick finally crouched near him.

"But you still have the same problem!" he shouted, punching that bald face right as he finished. "That is why all your kung fu can't beat me." No sooner did he finish that sentence than the security alarm suddenly ring, alerting the island's inhabitants to the arrival of an intruder.

"There's an intruder. Everyone, head out!" Freyja suddenly commanded as she, Mist, and Kara guided the other Valkyries' charge out of the cavern. Herja, the straight blonde haired Valkyrie trainer who stood closest to the cage due to her vested interest in this session, undid the barrier and opened the cage so as to let Derrick join them. However, just before he left, he turned around and looked at the fallen martial artist.

"Siu, you, stay here and rest," he instructed the monk, who stayed and laid there as he left to join the charge. Herja's first destination was to run through to where her group of warriors, left under the capable leadership of Darrius.

"Everyone, come! Help us find the intruder!" she shouted immediately as she found them. Instantly Darrius relayed that instruction further with a shout of, "Come, let's go, let's go!" and led the group charge into following Herja on the way to spotting the intruder.

The search was very efficient. Without very much prompting to split up, the large party was able to quickly scatter across their chunk of the island within a minute and with little to no disruption in the actual search. Eventually it came to where other branches of warriors would end up notified and participating in the search in their immediate area. Still, they failed to find their quarry, apparently a very elusive one at that.

About 12 minutes later, though, Derrick, Mist, and another Valkyrie found themselves together on a marsh-like area with a certain short flowing waterfall at the edge. Looking across both at the pathway to the right and the grassy hill up ahead on the other side of the waterfall, they saw no signs of anyone or anything moving. The Double-Edged blonde was starting to get impatient at the lack of fruit in their widespread efforts to find the perpetrator.

"No one. Again! Damnit!" Derrick shot, his anger getting the best of him at the moment.

"Apparently we're dealing with someone who doesn't wanna be found. Try and calm down. This is not the time to lose your temper," Mist advised him, trying to be the voice of reason despite that voice showing some hint of irritation as well.

"Calm down? H- how is it we can't find whoever just broke in? We have a top notch security system. Whoever it is is still here and hasn't been found yet or else the alarm would've stopped ringing," Derrick started to complain nonetheless. That is, until…

"I found him!" the other Valkyrie suddenly shouted while pointing down almost directly under the marsh. Derrick and Mist immediately turned and looked where she was pointing, and in almost no time at all, Derrick was caught agape at who he saw now staring back at him.

"You're kidding…" he found himself uttering, drawing the two Valkyries' attention before he shook himself back in control. "Cole!"

"Huh? Derrick?" Cole asked, more to himself making sure he was indeed seeing his old friend looking back at him. "You can see me?" At hearing that, Derrick had to let out a chuckle and crack a momentary smile.

"It's okay," he said, looking across the Valkyries. "I know him."

Elsewhere, as a long chugging train traversed a set of railroad tracks in the middle of the street in a developing western area of San Diego, a young woman would be walking along the sidewalk to the right. For the most part, this oval-headed, long-haired brunette did not stand out much at all at first glance, appearing to be just a typical young woman quickly strolling through the streets. She sported a pair of well-fitting simple jeans and a tank top that showed just a little bit of her midriff, and a white purse with brown patterns was fastened around between her left shoulder and the right side of her waist. The expression of her brown eyes, pale lips, and average nose, all with a somewhat decidedly Asian look to them, showed a calm yet definitive hurry which was supported by her quick walk. Her albino skin almost matching the color of the buildings next to her, she easily came off as ordinary and even somewhat bothered.

"Hey! Give me back my purse!" she could hear another girl suddenly shouting from the other side of the building wall at the intersection. No sooner did this event drive her interest than she wound up startled by the presence of someone in black running into her view and then in her direction, even shoving her aside smack onto the pavement.

"Hey!" she vocally complained rather than grimace in pain, before going after the man. Next to where the building platform was about a head taller than him, He did a sudden detour, threw the purse up on it, and then jumped. He was able to grab onto the higher ground with his hands and make his way up over it. Surprisingly, before he even made it all the way up and got enough steps in, the woman was already starting to do the same. She ended up getting up there and chasing him down until he reached the end of this platform, jumping down to end up in a hidden alley. The woman went after him, but instead of running any further, he waited until she got there, before laying a hand on her and shredding away in a sea of dark particles which also ensnared her.

The two would reemerge inside a hidden cave, which caused the woman to immediately recoil in surprise when she saw exactly who the man was and where he'd just taken her.

"Kentman! I should've known you'd be the one to try something so underhanded," the woman responded, chiding the dark-haired demon

"Well, you can't exactly blame me. You're the unnatural abomination whose sister is trying to kill you," the male demon replied looking suave and sophisticated like a man in charge in his twenties.

"And you're the jealous coward who's only doing everything he can to kill me because you're jealous that I wouldn't ever date you," the woman countered.

"Please. I've been trying to kill you the whole time. If you had said yes to a date with me, you'd already be dead," the Kentman arrogantly replied. "Then again, it's not like you've done much in that regard lately. You haven't seen either of your lover boys since you moved to San Diego, have you?"

"Hold on a minute now. Let's keep all the hostility down for just a little longer," a feminine voice interrupted, speaking from behind the Kentman. Both he and the woman turned and looked, noticing another woman there, a beautiful crimson-eyed redhead appearing to be somewhere in her thirties, carrying an assured smile. Irritation and anger filled the Asian-looking lady's features at the sight of her captor.

"You really should give it up, bitch. You're never going to kill me," she retorted.

"Anya, sis, if I can't vanquish you, that's only because the fact that something like you exists is cheating," the second woman countered.

"Ha. Funny how you change yourself so you can look like some kind of a fox-faced dragon, call yourself… wait, what is it again? Yako-something?"

"Yoka the Firefox," the redhead replied irritably.

"Right. Anyway, it's funny how you can do all that, make lackeys out of people who've annoyed me in the past, yet still call my genetically given powers 'cheating'," Anya finished, much to Yoka's annoyance.

"You were never naturally born, Anya. You were an experiment! An abomination created straight from _Dexter's Lab_!" the redhead angrily retorted.

"Again with the 'abomination'? Please, Morgan. Get better lines," Anya brushed off the comment, giving an inkling as to how many times she's had to hear it in the past.

"If you ever call me Morgan again, I'll kill you," Yoka threatened in flaring anger, before sweeping her arm through the sky, summoning four flaming white falcon-looking birds.

"Scalded kestrels again, too? This is already getting old," Anya replied, no sooner than Yoka wave her arms forward, prompting the firebirds to attack. Upon contact with Anya, each of them exploded, knocking her back and finally down, though she would roll through right back up. Yoka quickly scampered towards Anya and tried to punch her, only to get blocked. Repeat cycle with opposite arms, then came a thrust kick to Yoka's midsection. Anya flickered both her hands up and froze Yoka in her doubled-over state, before waving her arm and sending Yoka flying to the wall. Not to be ignored, the Kentman extended his arms and a swarm of black particles came towards Anya. She was barely able to notice and evade it, and the attack evaporated in mid-air. Anya then generated an energy ball and launched it at the Kentman, who dove to the side as it fell to the ground.

"Ugh… oh…!" Yoka groaned, as she began to get back up and recollect herself. Anya and the Kentman both stopped as she got up.

"You're not giving up already, are you? Cause despite the sad attempt at nostalgia, I'm kind of enjoying this," Anya zestfully asked. All she earned was a death glare from Yoka.

"Not a chance, you bug breed bitch," she declared firmly. "On that you can trust me."

"Can you please explain to us why you personally trust, and think we should trust, one of the most notorious demons of the past hundred years?" Mist demanded back at Valhalla, seated at the platform inside the cage's cavern. After she and Derrick had found Cole minutes ago, she stepped forward and told the black-haired intruder that she'd had to take him in for questioning, even through Derrick's objections. Right now, Cole was standing before the obvious sect of Valkyries, all seated up on the spectator platform in the cage, with only Derrick beside him for support as he faced the demigoddesses.

"Speaking from experience as someone who's been around him in the past. Trust me, he does not have an ulterior motive," Derrick maintained, even against the usual Cole-related mountain of evidence supporting suspicion of the contrary. "In the last few years he's had to find his humanity. I've been watching him."

"Still, how can you be sure that he won't betray us all?" Kara asked, her stance towards Cole seeming as cold as that of Mist.

"Because I've born witness to him finding his humanity. I know him," Derrick countered.

"You know, I don't really care too much for this little kangaroo court we have going on here. I'm just curious as to how it's possible that you all can see me," Cole spoke up.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Derrick sharply turned to Cole. "You were trying to come here undetected?"

"Actually, no. I wasn't trying to come undetected, I just expected it," Cole replied. "But only because I'm part dead. I think you know why that is." The reference to what Derrick had tried to stop from happening through their one past conversation years ago only proceeded to visibly confuse the younger half-demon.

"Yeah, but what's that have to do with anything?" Derrick asked in his befuddled state.

"I think I might know," Herja suddenly spoke up as all eyes, especially Cole's, turned to her at the sound of her words. "It's because Valhalla exists on a planar crossover level between life and the cosmos."

"Wait, what?" Derrick asked, sending off a clear tone of surprise. Realizing that he still hadn't learned this, Kara sighed.

"How do you think we have the ability to take dying spirits here and turn them back solid with a breath?" the rough demigoddess asked rhetorically, stopping Derrick in his tracks as he thought and realized where she was going with this. "It's dawning on you, isn't it? Our powers are uniquely shaped to fulfill our cause here in this realm. You'd think you would've figured this out by now after working among us for about half a year."

"Wait, aside from the fact that I must've turned solid just by touching the water here, that also explains the magic that hides Valhalla from human maps, though, doesn't it?" Cole deduced.

"And how would you know anything about that?" Mist crossly demanded.

"I listen and learn. Besides, I've been stuck in a cosmic void for the past couple of years, and after somehow becoming solid by merely touching water, it kind of pieces together," Cole answered, only to realize something else. "Wait a minute, with me being solid, does that mean I'm alive or something? Like, able to, go… back to the mortal, physical world, and-"

"No, actually, it doesn't," Herja added from her position to the right of Mist. "You only appear solid as if alive again if you leave Valhalla through one of our portals." She stopped and shook her head violently. "Wait, why are we telling you any of this?"

"I don't know," Cole admitted after a moment of thought. "The only thing I do know is that I just took care of some family business, which I'll be telling the guy in the coat here about later, then I sought a paradise to come to and I ended up here."

"I've made my decision," Freyja stood up to declare, commanding attention from a mixture of gazes. "Derrick, your friend can stay safely here. At least for the time being. And as long as you both agree that he should have an eye kept on him at all times."

"Yes!" Derrick carelessly exclaimed, losing his inhibitions for a second in glee at the Valkyries' acceptance of his "brother", conditional as it was.

"What?" Mist reacted questioningly on the other hand.

"This is wrong, Freyja!" Kara took the objection further. "He and Derrick are not the same. Cole Turner is a trained killer with a track record for evil only surpassed by most Sources I've ever heard of!"

"Which is why I'm trusting all of you not to leave him unattended for a second until he proves himself," Freyja elaborated in calm defense of her judgment. "If he even tries anything devious, we have the power to send him straight to hell, after all." At the notion of being "sent straight to hell", Cole managed a heartfelt chuckle, which died down when he saw that he'd easily earned hostile stares from some of the other Valkyries, including Kara, and even a "you're an idiot" glare from Derrick.

"Okay, if you're gonna do something stupid that gets you killed **again**, remind me to be the killer this time," the vamplighter snipped irritably in Cole's direction. The former Belthazor tried to issue a sardonic chuckle in reply, but was so thoroughly amused by what he perceived as the ridiculous turn of events surrounding his being visible in Valhalla that it turned into a full on laugh.

* * *

NOTE: The monk played by Arnold Chon needed an Asian name. Siu obviously would do. Speaking of Asians, Anya would be played by the brilliant Lucy Liu. (And I have an awesome friend to thank for that character and casting choice, too.)

Also, the Kentman is the second character that is actually my creation. His actor would be Shane Brolly of recent Underworld fame.

Again, everybody, sorry for the delay. Can't promise it won't happen again, as life's course is not really predetermined by anyone walking the earth, but I will definitely try to be quicker at this.

-Pac.

P.S. Guess who just turned 20, folks?


	4. Part 2b

_**Crimson Concrete for a Thorny Rose**__ (part 2b)_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Connie Burge, Brad Kern, and co. I only own four characters seen here, two being Derrick Serkan Brady and the Kentman, and the pieces of the storyline you are about to read that are not seen or hinted at on _Charmed_. Also, regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either are/were or would be portrayed by actual human beings with at least an iota of believable acting ability.

Rating: T

Summary: Follow-up to Love's Demonic Black Sheep set within pieces of season 7. Derrick's quest to save both Kyra and Cole comes closer to impossible through a heartbreaking setback which he must find the resolve to plow through and rise above.

* * *

NOTE: Before we begin, I would like to apologize for once again taking a billion years to do this. Now, I've got to ship out a warning. This chapter is in so many places, but that's for a reason. It's because of what I'm trying to set the table for. And that's my next piece to this little saga at last.

* * *

Meanwhile, the battle between Anya against Yoka and the Kentman still raged on the Underworld. As Anya cart wheeled to the side to avoid another flurry of Yoka-generated burning falcons, the Kentman launched another blast of his black burst particles at her. This round made its way inside her, and as the Kentman quickly closed his right fist, the particles burst inside Anya, sending a stabbing pain searing through her ribs which temporarily immobilized her. With that, Kentman and Anya both rushed over and kicked her in the abdomen, sending her flying back into the wall and writhing in pain at her unfortunate lot at the moment.

"Well, we should've known you weren't gonna make this easy on us," Yoka started as she and Kentman stalked over the groaning Anya, "but then again it's not like it really matters."

"That's right, Anyankos," the Kentman continued, the two now casting a proverbial shadow over her. "It all ends here."

"That's… ach… what you think… bastard!" Anya shot in defiance, which Kentman grew a puzzled look at, thoroughly pretending as if he didn't understand.

"You've gotta be kidding me. Really," Kentman protested. "Anya, you're mere seconds away from death, yet you still think you can fight?" The fact that she was so clearly favoring her midsection as though unable to fight back whatsoever only further played into why this was supposed to be unfathomable. Physical incapacitation was most demons' utter breaking point. But not this one. However, just then she was able to simmer down her reaction to the pain, and apparently, from the smile that came upon her features, the pain itself.

Then it happened. Anya transformed into a new demonic form; taller, with golden skin and a more menacing tone in her face, which was now affixed with black markings around her now glowing red eyes. Several black exoskeleton-like spikes started to protrude from her back, as well as a couple from her elbows. Her clothes also changed, morphing into a hard exoskeleton shield which covered her chest, front midsection, full lower abdomen, thighs, and calves. Immediately, Yako and the Kentman were overcome with shock and fear, scrambling around and trying to find a way to escape from the gambit she just caught them in.

As soon as they both tried to split up and take off, Anya got back up and launch a black energy ball at Yako's back, which struck and knocked her right into the wall. The Kentman stopped and turned around to view the attack.

"Damnit!" he shouted, firing another particle shot in her direction. Anya responded by creating a black flame shield which kept the particles, then coming right the Kentman's way and gripping him by the neck. She then quickly released and punched him, which sent him towards a wall as well. Yako, whose face looked plenty bruised itself, picked herself back up and staggered about a bit, which Anya suddenly caught sight of.

"Tired already, sis?" Anya asked, her voice laden with a new demonic tone to it. Yako was momentarily frozen in fear by the comment, which she quickly tried to cover up by throwing jets of flame at Anya, who swatted the attack aside like nothing. As Anya slowly crept towards Yoka, the redhead found herself actively quivering.

"That wasn't exactly a very smart move there, Yoka," the Kentman proclaimed with a brave tone in his voice as he launched more particle blasts towards Anya, but with a simple turnaround and scream she was able to deflect that assault right back at Kentman, who had to use his particle teleport maneuver to escape getting hurt.

"Oh, and that was much better!" Yoka managed to sarcastically retort back towards her partner.

"Just run, you fool!" Kentman warned in retort, and it took one quick look at her sister for Yoka to remember the situation and realize he was right. As Anya looked back and forth, Yoka was able to quickly get a running start as she tried to make a break for it. The transformed demon quickly saw it and formed a deadly-looking black energy ball in her hand, but as soon as she launched it at Yoka, the Firefox made her escape by flame. She just stood there, eyeing the spot, as did Kentman for awhile.

"Heh," the particle demon finally sounded off as a smirk crept on and he teleported out of there. It was as he was doing this that Anya sharply turned in his direction, so she was too late to stop him. After looking around for a bit, to make sure they wouldn't come back and jump her, she sighed and allowed herself to return to her more human form.

"Well, thank God that's over. If He considers a creature like me, at least," Anya remarked to no one in particular before red-orbing out of the territory.

Back in Valhalla, Derrick and Cole were walking along through Valhalla.

"So, what happened with the new dark hero look?" Cole asked somewhat in jest, referring to the new black coat and tights, the latter of which had some red outlined sun artwork visible below the belt but mostly hidden on the sides behind the coat.

"Oh, that," Derrick recalled. "Well, you can blame the Valkyries for that one. See, they wanted me to have a pendant like theirs as proof of my basically joining them, but then I kinda realized, the whole pendant thing is corny. So instead they actually went downstairs in order to find somebody who could make me an outfit that would specifically kinda mesh with my bloodstream."

"And they could actually accomplish this?" Cole questioned, a little quizzical as to why and how this was actually doable.

"You'd be surprised how persuasive beautiful chicks in Amazon gear can be without coming onto anybody. Oh! Here we are," Derrick replied, seeing that they were finally approaching a Valkyrie acting in place of Herja and the top class of warriors at their usual training spot. "Hey!" The blonde Valkyrie turned around at his call.

"Oh… Derrick, who's this with you? Is he the intruder?" she inquired as she finally noticed the other man.

"Well, actually-"

"Yes. I am," Cole immediately cut Derrick off, figuring he would've probably tried to sugarcoat something in his defense. "But I didn't come here on purpose. I just kind of… lucked into it, you could say."

"Hold on a second," Darrius suddenly spoke up, having turned and seen the man in the suit talking with Derrick and Herja. Suspicious of this new arrival, the warrior approached the triumvirate and looked around at Cole as if inspecting him. He stopped at his face, however, specifically taking the opportunity to look into his eyes.

"You appear to be a fairly hard man," Darrius noted. "Perhaps a little too hardened."

"And I think I know exactly where it comes from," Cole remarked, expecting the obvious to be somewhat irritating.

"Cole, just stop," Derrick quickly advised. Unfortunately, that squealed the name of this man to the Valkyrie and the warriors. A few of them looked crossly, having apparently heard a few stories about a demon named Cole, some in clearer detail than others. Those who weren't eyeing the scene with suspicious gazes were looking around at those that were as if asking to know what was going on. Siu, though, specifically stepped forward and joined Darrius in the confrontation.

"Serkan!" Siu suddenly burst, addressing Derrick by his middle name as he'd instructed for the warriors to do. "Why did you bring an evil demon here?"

"Like he said, he brought himself here by accident, and trust me. He's not a threat. He's not in evil form. In fact, he's not even exactly a demon right now," Derrick soundly explained. "He's part dead and cosmic, pretty much like all you guys now."

"Like one of us?" Darrius questioned, receiving a nod from Derrick.

"That makes no sense!" Siu was steadfast to object. "Once the evil dead are vanquished, they are taken to a stage of hell! How could one get in here?"

"Oh, there's a reason for it," Derrick coolly affirmed, "and I think I know what it is."

"Hey, I don't need all my personal baggage being aired out here," Cole interrupted.

"Whoa, relax. I wasn't gonna tell him what the reason was," Derrick claimed in self-defense.

"Enough!" Siu suddenly cried out, stopping the squabble as he turned to Cole. "If the stories are true, you are formidable and vicious, but also cunning and dangerous. I don't know why Serkan trusts you, but I cannot accept your presence. Prepare to fight me, demon!" Cole merely looked at the monk warrior like he was crazy, briefly turned to Derrick and got a shrug, then returning to giving Siu the same quizzical expression on his face.

"You're kidding me, right?" Cole finally asked after a ten-second pause.

"What do you mean?" Siu demanded hostilely.

"What makes you think I'm gonna fight you here and now? You're blinded by your own raw instinct," Cole commented, leaving Derrick impressed that his half-dead friend could pick up on the exact same thing that he's been trying to teach the monk and the rest of these warriors since he's been around. "You're gonna strike and try to kill me, and I'm gonna make you pay for it. It's too easy. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this guy right next to me's been telling you this exact same thing for a long time now."

"H- how did you know?" Derrick couldn't stop himself from asking aloud.

"Once you've lived long enough to see just about everything, one look truly is worth a thousand words," Cole replied with a smile.

"Enough talk!" Siu shouted, finally fully tired of this dialogue. He started to rear his leg for a kick, until…

"Stop it!" a familiar feminine voice came and commandingly swooped over the area. Everyone else immediately turned around and caught sight of Herja, and more importantly knew better than to ignore her presence and pursue what they were doing, including Cole because of how conditional his official acceptance had been into Valhalla. His acceptance… wow, the one part he and Derrick forgot to mention to these guys. Unbelievable.

"Herja, Serkan has found the intruder and brought him into our midst,"

"I'm well aware," Herja revealed, bringing about a look of surprise. "And I know it isn't easy. But the head triumvirate and I have conditionally accepted him into Valhalla."

"But why?" another one of the warriors spoke up. This was the large rotund one with the face paint. "He's a threat! A demon! One of the forces of evil!"

"Not completely, and apparently not at the moment. Also, our new champion seems to be confident in his honest intentions here," Herja countered the warrior's argument. "Therefore, Freyja motioned to accept him into the fold here at Valhalla, so long as he is not left without surveillance for a second."

"But that's a dangerous stand to take," argued the short-haired blonde Valkyrie that supervised in Herja's place. "Assuming that this demon won't try anything? How do we know he hasn't just been using the compassion of certain high members here to prepare an ultimate assault?"

"If he does, we'll deal with him then. But if not, then he could be a valuable addition to our cause," Herja reminded her. "Think about it. We have the power to destroy him if he tries anything treacherous. The worst that can happen is that he lays one strike and is quickly dispatched before he can get the chance to do anything further. In any case, the decision's been made. And I don't really like it, but I see where it comes from. Hopefully the same can apply to the rest of us in due time."

The other Valkyrie and even the warriors listened to Herja's point and began to contemplate it. Murmuring began to occur amongst most of the warriors, which the mage and the monk approached in order to listen more closely. Much of the stance among the warriors was that Herja was right, and if not that then since the decision had come from up top there was no use trying to fight it. As they listened in, the two warriors began to get a good idea how they would manage this. Once their minds were fully made up, they turned to the two Valkyries and the quasi-demonic "brothers", ready to speak for the rest of the class.

"I still think we should strike him down now," Siu began, "but out of loyalty, we will agree to keep him. And especially, to keep an eye on him."

"Thank you," Herja acknowledged, truly grateful that this didn't blow up badly. "You are all a great credit to what we do here in Valhalla." With that statement spoken, she walked in front of Cole and stared him directly in the eye. "Hopefully, the same can apply to you, rather than the other way around."

Cole could only give a small amused chuckle. He had no intentions on betrayal, but starting here was going to be a definite rough patch. Good thing he had Derrick to help him through a bit for the time being, though.

As this all went on, in the heavens stood a figure currently looming in thought, with the next conference approaching. He was an Elder, typical to the role with white and golden robe, and from the looks of him he either was or had stopped aging while in his fifties. His face was oval-shaped and appeared a little stout, and he carried a short head of graying hair, which was typically a sign of one becoming an Elder but in his case was simply aging before the fact. His name was Odin, and he was one of the most powerful members of the Council of Elders.

For longer than he could truly count now, Odin had been an Elder and truly earned his place in the ranks, helping to enact and enforce rules and regulations which were vital to maintaining order in the magical grand design. These rules had been put into place in order to prevent so many personal complications he'd seen before in his life from getting in the way of the duties of magical creatures, specifically whitelighters, the state that most Elders had directly progressed from, and the charges that they had to look out for. One of those safeguards particularly, put in place 42 years ago, could be considered something of a chastity order, but that was a cold definition at best. It was a rule that was made with the intention of keeping undue emotional baggage from impeding whitelighters' ability to do their jobs, and to keep the immortal dead revived from interfering with the alive in ways that were unprecedented and unpredictable. It was the rule forbidding whitelighters to become too intimately involved with their charges, which included but was not limited to romantic relationships.

For years that rule had been followed to the letter, apart from , and there were no problems because of it. Witches were able to focus on living their lives, strengthening their powers, and protecting the innocent from demons and other evil threats. Whitelighters were able to focus on looking after the witches in order to help them maintain this goal, whether it meant posing as acquaintances or casual friends or simply watching over them without any real place in their lives. Not to say that everything had gone without a hitch, as demons were still getting the better of witches close to as much as vice versa, but things were much more orderly. Whitelighters treated the Elders with respect and followed their orders, which were restricted to any emergency situations, and when witches and/or future whitelighters entered the afterlife they followed suit, and those who were apt to be trouble at first eventually came around. Many of the Elders currently in place actually earned their position over other contenders due to their level of respect.

These thoughts were not a speech made for a power grab on his part. Odin truly felt that this was the way it needed to be. And it had much to do with how he came up. Before he became an Elder, he'd lived a life as a fairly powerful witch. His parents and siblings, however, had had no powers nor knowledge of magic, meaning he'd never had any knowledge of it himself until one day when out in the woods he suddenly came under chase courtesy a horse. He cowered in fear, expecting to be kicked into next week, but suddenly a force field had come around him and knocked the horse back. He had gone alone, but he later found out that his father had seen everything. Being that his family was founded on deep moral values and respect, when his father told him that he was ready to excommunicate him from the family for this if it meant protecting the others from his powers, he simply agreed and admitted that he was just as scared that he might do something and would leave on his own if he had to. This had actually inspired his father to offer to make sure he would master his powers.

Unfortunately, the man would go on to be killed just a few years later while with Odin, leaving the rest of the family to reject the then-teenage boy. He accepted it out of shame and made his way through the world alone, which landed him somewhere where he learned to grow into and control his powers. Unfortunately, his strict values and complaints about the bold and somewhat unrefined style of dress the keepers had there would actually ruffle enough feathers there to get him kicked out of yet another place to stay. Returning to the world at large, he discovered that he'd become quite the strong and adept witch, and used his powers to protect the town where he was born. The Elders eventually would recognize his good works and stable mindset and came down to offer him a place in their ranks, and from there the rest was history.

Speaking of history, recent history had it that the long-awaited prophecy of the most powerful witches in history would finally come true when the witch Patricia Halliwell and Victor Bennett's daughters, Prudence, Piper, and Phoebe, finally came together as the Charmed Ones over six years ago. The whitelighter Leo Wyatt, who had been secretly watching over the Halliwell family while posing as a friend or minor acquaintance for over fifty years, had been the model whitelighter so far and there was no reason to expect anything different. Though the sisters' relationship had been somewhat strained in the beginning, it eventually grew, and for a while it seemed that there would be nothing more than bliss between the Charmed Ones and the Elders.

That was until Leo and Piper suddenly decided that following their urges to jump into romance with each other was a good idea. Odin had feared that from there, everything would go downhill. And it did. First Leo was healing Piper from diseases, breaking the rule against healing wounds that didn't come from evil attacks. Then they were secretly plotting to get married, and the Elders were having to rely on a tip from demons in order to catch wind of it and stop it in time. Then, while they were in the process of convincing the council through their actions to allow them to marry, Phoebe was off falling in love with a demon. This would be a factor in the incident that lost Prue and later introduced the council to the fact that Patricia and her whitelighter Sam Wilder had broken the anti-involvement rule in the mid-to-late 1970s, resulting in the hybrid Paige, and had given her at birth in order to hide the fact. And all this before the royal backfire of Phoebe's demon romance and Gideon going insane over the power of Piper and Leo's firstborn twice-blessed son Wyatt, the prospect of which had been another reason to keep whitelighters out of bed. All unnecessary complications, all because the Charmed Ones, especially Piper, and Leo, decided to throw caution to the wind and hell with the rules.

Recently, though, was the biggest insult to the Elders' order that he could ever remember. A gathering storm was on the horizon, courtesy of a powerful and shady force he recalled from history called the Avatars. While not decidedly evil, the Avatars were not a trustworthy entity, to say the least. Leo of all people should've known that, since he was the one they were torturing with flying skull creatures and helping that scoundrel Barbas set up to kill one of their own in Zola, the one that had in fact been one of Leo's closest confidants in the council. Yet all they needed to do was to speak of some utopia, feed him all the lines that he wanted to hear, and he was willing to take the gamble of possibly throwing everything away at their feet. Even after they requested he save a demonic seer, of all things, he still stuck through. Then again, he did seem to have some form of a history with that specific seer… yet something else to be concerned about.

Today was the culmination of Odin conferring with the rest of the Elders for weeks to decide what to do with Leo. It took all this for the rest of them to finally decide that something needed to be figured out about this rebellious whitelighter in their midst who was breaking all the rules and doing no one any service but those impulsive witches. They decided on doing a test, to force him to give up either his Elderdom and everything it entailed, or his personal life with the Halliwells. And Odin was determined on committing Leo to the test. He had to punish Leo. He had to teach him a lesson about being an Elder that he would never ever forget. Even if it took dishing the family a piece of its own medicine to do it.

Unfortunately, as usual, the Charmed Ones couldn't realize when it was time to leave well enough alone, and Piper had to get attacked by some thorn demons. And Leo had to continue to be as impulsive and impetuous as ever, daring to fall from grace. Well, he got what he wanted now. Congratulations to one Leo Wyatt. He wanted to live a normal life with his witch. Now he's got one. Hopefully, he's happy with himself.

"Um… Mr. Odin, sir, the others are waiting for you," a young male voice spoke which he recognized all too well. Kevin. The prodigal Elder who the Charmed Ones helped Remus transfer his powers to. And they couldn't even do that right, he had to die to make that happen. To make matters worse, seeds of the rebel youth have been slowly showing from Kevin recently. Odin would have to be strict with him, keep him in line, train him personally in how to properly carry oneself as an Elder.

But he had to focus on Kevin later. The important focus at the moment was that the Council needed his presence for the next meeting and that was taking place now.

"Very well," he stated, getting up off the porch and walking towards the building's conference room.

In another Underworld location, which actually looked quite different from the simple cave where Anya was fighting her sister Yoka and the Kentman earlier, there were two male demons, who each looked to be of a young man's age, both apparing to be in their mid-twenties, though only one had facial hair. The one with facial hair also had a full head of short, wavy, dark hair, with a mustache and a small goatee. The other one sported a spiky square-looking buzz cut and no facial hair. Both wore dark dress shirts and pants, though the shorter-haired one's dress shirt was a shade of navy blue while everything else on both men was black.

"So you see, this is exactly where I'm going with this," the buzz cut demon started.

"I'd say I'm catching your point, but one question," the wavy haired one asked. "If you're so sure that this can work, why are we waiting so long?"

"Man… you think you've got it, Nomed, but you're still missing the picture. It's because I know this can work that I'm willing to wait even longer," the buzz cut one replied towards his accomplice. "You see, one day I ran into this demon as I was walking around the Underworld inconspicuously. I noticed he was doing the same, so I tried to come over and talk to him about a plan to raise some hell in the mortal world. He raised an athame to my neck and told me if I didn't drop it right then and there I'd be the next demon to die at his hands, which told me that I was dealing with a rebel here. I was able to quickly beg off and scamper for the hills, but I had to see what was making this guy tick."

"So that's the demon you were following the whole time," Nomed finally realized aloud.

"That's right," his friend confirmed. "And here's where the real story kicks in; it turns out, he's the half-vampire whitelighter they left up in Canada."

"That was Serkan?" Nomed stated.

"Yeah, do you know him?" the other demon confirmed.

"Um… not really, sir. Just by reputation," Nomed admitted.

"So you know no more than me. Actually, that's not all the way true, you know less. Well, that's about to change," the toxically attractive apparent boss stated to prepare him. "What I've learned watching him on-and-off over the past year is that he's been living with a seer, and they've viewed each other fondly. I realized those two were partners searching for some common goal of some sort, and were apparently even watching the Charmed Ones, of all people, a few times, but they couldn't find what they were looking for. One day, though, they got into this argument about a vision she saw, related to a group called the Avatars and apparently her imminent death at the hands of her former demonic master. She told him he couldn't stay because he was nowhere in sight in her visions of coming events, which meant that if he didn't leave at that moment, then he would die. They had a, uh… well, what I would call at least a painful parting."

"Wow. At this rate, I wonder what kept you from biting their heads off," Nomed wondered aloud, somewhat surprised.

"I wasn't gonna sacrifice my entire plan on an impulse," the leader answered. "Back to Serkan. He left, of course, but later that night, he returned while she was asleep, appearing through some kind of vortex alongside a couple of warrior women and a hooded guy. He just came over, looking at her and even touching her in ways that I would chalk down to him wanting her physically but somehow never taking her. Eventually, though, he actually kissed her. Right on the lips. Then he issued an apology that you could tell he was holding back from saying something from, and he walked away and left with the others."

"Wait… no, you're telling me… that can't be right," Nomed started in shock and denial. What his leader was telling him of right now is unheard of.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you," the boss confirmed. "He is just like Belthazor, and we've all heard of what happened to him. Corrupted by his good half and some notion of love. Hmph… love. You have got to be kidding me. I've got to look at multiple demons, infected by the sickness of love. And even more pathetic, Serkan's love interest… was a demonic seer. Who probably shares his feelings, based on her reaction to that kiss, but unlike him actually realized that it was wrong and impossible for her either to have or to survive with. They had to have known about what happened to Belthazor, too."

"That explains what they must have been looking for that they never found," Nomed suggested. "A way to correct that issue about who she was. She must be the rare example of a demon not born with a black heart."

"Exactly, and without a clear mind, either, because of it, because I was hidden in plain sight for every second. More importantly, she sold out demon kind to the Charmed Ones over the Avatars' so-called "Utopia", which they enacted for a time as you know, but ended up killed by Zankou, the demon that was imprisoned in a ball by the Source but then let out by a desperate conference of demons, before that could happen. Apparently he was her old boss that she regarded as a scumbag," the lead demon replied, before the expression on his face suddenly became grim. "I got a good feeling, Nomed, that something big is about to happen in some time, and it's gonna leave us with a window of opportunity. One that looks large enough that we can do whatever and whenever, but that only really leaves us one perfect timing opening to act upon."

"Now I understand exactly what you're waiting for," Nomed remarked as though having an epiphany.

"Congratulations," the calculating demon acknowledged, before smirking deviously and patting a hand on Nomed's shoulder. "You're all in."

Meanwhile, back in Valhalla, after being offered a quick introduction to the warriors that he would be living amongst for the time being, Cole would find himself and Derrick arriving at the cavern chamber while only Freyja and three other Valkyries were present in the room. One of the other Valkyries began to step forward, but Freyja waved her off and allowed the two to come over to her.

"What can I do for you, gentlemen?" Freyja asked cordially with a smile on her face.

"We were actually thinking you could, allow us to take a trip to a mausoleum I know," Cole requested, to which the other Valkyries looked a bit alarmed, though none of them would actually voice their grievances.

"Hmm…" Freyja stated, starting to peruse the request. It was a bit troubling to her that already Cole was asking to go somewhere… however, she did remember something from the earlier conversation. He'd once said something about having some "family business" he'd tended to before arriving at Valhalla that he needed to tell Derrick about. It was fairly apparent by now that he hadn't gotten the opportunity yet. "Very well, but would you care to tell me why you need to get there?" She asked this just to verify.

"We've got private matters to discuss, and finally enough time to do so," Cole explained, which to her was more of a confirmation, something he sort of figured out. "I could've sworn I'd already told you this."

"You have," she replied with a smile. "I'm glad you could be honest with me so quickly. However, we still need to choose a Valkyrie to accompany you and serve as a guard." She then turned towards the other Valkyries in the room. "Cherima!" Her call was responded to in particular by a relatively vibrant-looking shoulder-length-haired Valkyrie brunette, who approached the boss dame and the two half-demons with little hesitation.

"Talk to me, Freyja. I'll do as you ask," she earnestly stated.

"I'm pleased," Freyja replied graciously. "You're a hard nosed and lively Valkyrie. I'd like you to join these two in company to this mausoleum where he's requested to go."

"Wait just a second," Cole quickly interjected before the brunette could vocally sign herself to the task. "No. She's not coming. This discussion is kind of a private matter. We don't need a random Valkyrie to be there watching over us."

"Did you forget the queen's orders?" the Valkyrie apparently known as Cherima quickly contested, showing some of the same loyalty towards Freyja as Kara displayed. "You can't be left unattended, remember, demon guy?"

"Well, Derrick isn't exactly leaving me unattended. Which means that should be enough to make this good for going," Cole countered.

"Actually," Derrick started as he drew the others' focus, "I was thinking, that maybe we could use another helping hand. But it's not you, Cherima."

"Okay, then who do you have in mind?" Cherima asked in curious reply.

"Funny you should ask," Derrick answered, before suddenly turning to Freyja. "See, Freyja… I was thinking, that I'd like you to come along." This easily led to gasps among the other three Valkyries, as well as a hostile glare from Cole.

"Me?" Freyja asked loudly in clear surprise herself. "But… why? I especially like to only leave when there's an emergency. What reason would I have to come out over this?"

"Well, for one thing, there's not gonna be a fight in the cage to decide Cole's worth here," Derrick reasoned, "so if anything, this is probably the best chance you're gonna get for awhile of learning what you can about him that goes beyond the stories and the record books." One look at Freyja told him that she was starting to buy in. "I mean, think about it. He's gonna be here for awhile. What better way to find out where his mind's at right now than to join him and a good friend in a personal chat?"

The contemplative expression on Freyja's features was a noticeable sight that largely tensed up the area, specifically the surrounding Valkyries and Cole, all of whom were at least a little apprehensive about this being seen through. Cole didn't appreciate the idea of being "spied on by a goddess Amazon" in his eyes, while the other Valkyries recognized that Freyja rarely ever left the realm of Valhalla and really wondered if this was a good idea. However, the queen bee's choice would soon be made, as she found herself nodding in understanding at several good points to Derrick's offer, both those the double-edged blonde had presented as well as some new aspects of this she considered on her own. Soon, she turned towards Derrick and Cole.

"I'll go with you," Freyja replied.

"Wait, are you sure you wanna do that, though?" Cherima asked immediately.

"Yes. I am," Freyja softly replied, before placing her hands on Cherima's shoulders. "And believe me, there's no need to be concerned, because everything will be fine." Reluctantly, Cherima nodded in reply, then turned towards the other two Valkyries and motioned for them to stand easier. Freyja took her hands off of the underling and allowed her to walk to the others, before taking her own pendant and extending it towards Cole.

"Grab this. And think about where it is you wish to go, then press the gem," she finally instructed the new half-demon in the fold. Resigning himself to the fact that she would indeed be there as well, Cole gave a sigh before doing as she explained. After what felt like an entire minute with the thick atmosphere in the air but was actually less than even half of one, he would finally press the gem and bear witness to the liquid whirlpool vortex that served as the Valkyries' cosmic portal through the worlds.

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NOTE: As you can probably see, this chapter is essentially all over the place, but that's for a good reason. Once again, I've got major plans in the works, and between Demonic Black Sheep and Crimson Concrete, all this is like a prequel, a complete setup for that.

Now for a few specifics.

**One:** yes, the stingy headstrong Elder that helped basically create the rift between the Elders and the Charmed Ones is called Odin. I didn't make that up, folks. Just in case any of you missed it, because he's been addressed by the name on the show by another Elder, Sandra, but it wasn't made terribly obvious. As insufferable as I think he is, in order to a) connect the dots as to what point in time this is in, b) make him somewhat understandably human by giving an idea what made him this way, and c) give his name some fitting connections, albeit only hinted at this point, I decided to use his thoughts to create a backstory that I think would befit the upbringing of an ultraconservative Elder with the name of a Viking god.

**Two:** Yoka was essentially co-created by me and the same friend that created Anya. Well, actually, he really created the character, I just fleshed out a couple details for my use. I actually think I did more to Anya, because her original demon form was supposed to be more grotesque and even more powerful… okay, now this is just rambling. Anyway, Kentman's the only one of the three that I made up, but then again that was already something you could guess, so yeah. And I added a little extra note in my footnote for 1c&2 about who plays him.

**Three:** the two male demons at the other Underworld scene? One later goes on to appear on the show. The other is another OC demon of mine. Clue - I didn't give the OC's name.

**Four:** the last of my OCs involved, the Valkyrie Cherima (whose name is basically an anagram of "chimera"), is for all intents and purposes a cameo character who I severely doubt will be seen again.

**Five:** part 2c will be much shorter, as well as conclude the Crimson Concrete series. But then again that was already a good guess as well. Unfortunately, there's no good guess as to when it'll arrive.

Anyway, see ya later, folks!

-Pac.

P.S. To everybody, a Merry belated Christmas, Happy belated Hanukkah, Kwanza, whatever else that's a happy December holiday, whatever you may celebrate, and a Happy New Year! Peace, folks.


	5. Part 2c

_**Crimson Concrete for a Thorny Rose**__ (part 2c)_ by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Disclaimer: _Charmed_ is complete property of the late Aaron Spelling, Connie Burge, Brad Kern, and co. I only own one character seen here, that being Derrick Serkan Brady, and the pieces of the storyline you are about to read that are not seen or hinted at on _Charmed_. Also, regardless of whose vision they are, all characters involved either are/were or would be portrayed by actual human beings with at least an iota of believable acting ability.

Rating: T

Summary: Follow-up to Love's Demonic Black Sheep set within pieces of season 7. Derrick's quest to save both Kyra and Cole comes closer to impossible through a heartbreaking setback which he must find the resolve to plow through and rise above.

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NOTE: Review replies time.

Siamese - glad you've enjoyed going Easter egg hunting throughout this stage in the game. I tried to make sure there was plenty material for that in there so that fans reading who remember enough of it would to be able to connect the dots as to what time within the show's scale this stuff is happening in, and it looks like a pleasing success.

gamecheck - Cole and Freyja? Wow… sounds like an interesting idea, to say the least. Can't tell you I'll go for it, though, but to be perfectly honest, right now I can't tell you anything about where I plan on taking Cole as far as pairings are concerned. I literally mean I can't, as in I don't have the ability to, because I just don't know. Extremely ironic, considering Cole's fate was one of the things I started this whole saga to fix, I know, but hey. There's plenty of time to figure it out, I think.

And now for the last salvo before the big deal!

* * *

"Wow," was all that Cole could say as he gazed in wonder at the swirling portal, eventually being able to find his marbeles enough to turn towards Freyja. "So… I literally walk… in there?"

Freyja merely chuckled, amused at how this notorious demon was reduced to such a childlike state if only for a moment, before turning and walking towards the portal. Seeing this, Derrick quickly tapped Cole on the shoulder and walked on behind Freyja, to which Cole followed suit as well. In single file fashion, the three would go through the portal and disappear in a white flash, Cole proceeding to do so right before the portal closed…

…and left them on the other side, inside the same mausoleum that Cole usually considered his safe zone. The man partially known by his former demon identity of Belthazor moved about and looked around, seeming considerably more lively at the moment, and, as he saw that the place was still as familiar as ever, breathed a somewhat contented sigh.

"Still relatively unchanged," he declared as if getting some sort of a victory out of it.

"What did you expect, a complete overhaul?" Derrick nonchalantly remarked, reminding the older man that he wasn't alone just because he could.

"No," Cole started his reply as he turned to look at Derrick and Freyja, "but I expected the both of you to at least be able to let me marvel in the fact that I'm back in one of my old favorite spots in the mortal world."

"The both of us?" Derrick questioned, though the motivation behind the choice of words didn't remain lost on him much longer. "Wait, I get it. You're still pissed off that I took her to come here, aren't you?"

"Well, considering it's only been a couple minutes and she's standing next to you right now, then at the very least that should be understandable," Cole retorted immediately. "I didn't come to Valhalla for some divine Amazon to watch me even when I'm talking to you. You're not me being unattended, you should be enough."

"You didn't even have a purpose for coming to Valhalla, so that doesn't even work," Derrick promptly reminded him to shut him up before presenting his real statement. "Look, though- Freyja being here is not gonna stop us from being able to talk about what you wanna talk about. I had to deal with Mist, Kara, _and_ Darrius flanking me when I came to visit Kyra to say goodbye." As he spoke, he slowly approached his dark-haired friend. "So I can tell you that one Valkyrie is not gonna interfere unless she sees a need to. You won't even notice she's there until you're ready to go back. Trust me."

"I know they were with you that night. I was watching you," Cole revealed in response before he knew it. Though he quickly caught himself, he realized that this wasn't something that he was gonna keep a secret anyway, and so kept going in spite of the shock on Derrick's face. "Specifically I was watching Kyra. Because that was the day I'd gotten curious and found the lair."

The Canadian hybrid was surprised and even more confused at that piece of news. Cole had actually been to the lair that day and seen him, Kyra, the others? Then why didn't he show himself and talk to any of them, or at least to her? Did it ever occur to him that maybe his updating them on his condition could've provided hope or an answer to everything? Wait… then again, there was his condition. The raven-haired man did say earlier when he was brought to the cage room that he'd been stuck in a cosmic void, most likely as a result of what Kyra had seen that week well over a couple years ago. Which probably meant that he was in plain sight all along, just completely invisible also. After a minute of sorting all this out, Derrick got nowhere thinking about it, so all he could manage, before any words finally registered to him at least, was a sardonic chuckle.

"Well, then I guess I won't have to tell you about that night, then," Derrick solemnly expressed, memories of Kyra once again flowing through him. Though it had been over six months, not a day went by that he didn't find himself thinking about her and wishing that she was still there with him at some point. He also remembered a feeling he had about four and a half months ago, two months since that day, a sinking feeling that everything was over, that there truly had been nothing he could do for Kyra anymore. He knew exactly what it was.

"She was killed two months later, wasn't she?" he somberly guessed, hoping Cole knew something and would be able to give him some insight as to what exactly happened. He wasn't getting any words from the older half-demon, though. "Were you watching then too?" he questioned further. Cole nodded with a heavy sigh.

"Yes to both," Cole finally stated. "The Avatars, the same group I went to to get the powers I needed for my last ditch appeal to destiny, were actually biding their time for an opportunity to bring about their 'utopia'."

"The Avatars and their utopia… aside from actually seeing the attempt in action, I've heard it spoken of a few times," Freyja suddenly spoke up, taking Derrick and Cole's attention. "It's supposed to be a world where conflict, good and evil duality, and demons wreaking havoc above ground would be relatively nonexistent, with the Avatars themselves serving as overlords."

"Which doesn't even take half a second to figure how that went wrong," Derrick interjected. "Their methods of leadership stifle free will and crush the very goodness of their intentions. See? Simple as that."

"Oh, you mean the part where they delete people for so much as shouting? Exactly, you're right," Cole stated.

"Not to mention the cosmos are unaffected, so we in Valhalla, and I'd venture to guess you as well, Cole, we were all able to see it to some degree without experiencing it," Freyja added.

"Meaning, it's over-enforced and incomplete at best," Derrick finalized, ready to refocus the subject. "But what does this have to do with Kyra?"

"At some point, they gave her a vision of their world, that they wanted her to show the Charmed Ones, specifically Phoebe since she's the clairvoyant sister," Cole stated.

"And somehow, it all goes back to Phoebe," Derrick stated a little derisively, still not completely over his disdain towards the woman he felt essentially thoroughly quit on his "brother".

"_Leo_… joined them a few weeks prior, and they assigned him to protect Kyra long enough for the sisters to come to learn everything," Cole proceeded on while blatantly ignoring the anti-Phoebe comment. "Demons in the Underworld released Zankou, a powerful demon once imprisoned by the Source, because they stood to lose the most from the Avatar utopia and they knew she'd sell them out. Of course, she had her conditions. You knew Kyra well, you can guess the big one." Derrick chuckled at that comment, indeed remembering the one thing Kyra wanted more than anything - and the only way she thought she could it could come by.

"She asked to be made human," he stated, as if this the most obvious thing to him. "It's the only way she thought she could be good and actually feel it."

"Bingo. You can guess who killed her," Cole invited.

"That Zankou guy," Derrick guessed accordingly, just as he realized something else. "So he was the old boss from her past!"

"And the kicker; Phoebe had a premonition with him killing her as a demon, but instead, they were able to turn her human and he still got to her," Cole finally reported. And suddenly, Derrick felt like a massive weight had just dropped into his head, as evidenced by the wide look of shock in his eyes.

"What?" was all he could say in this state, thinking about exactly what he was just told. He literally could not believe it… she was killed as a human!? So everything she wanted had finally been accomplished, only for her to be killed by some scumbag demon anyway? "Oh no…"

Freyja looked at the man and empathized with him, knowing exactly what he must've been feeling… no, wait, that wasn't quite right. She knew the fact of what he must've been feeling, especially with what Mist and Kara told her about his visit to a sleeping Kyra a good time ago, but the true nature of it could only have been more alien to her if she were a cold or even evil creature at heart. All she could do was to walk over to him, lay her hand on his shoulder, covered as it was by the thick coat the Valkyries had made for him, and stroke back and forth there to let him know she was here for him. He would get the message and shake out of his funk enough to turn to her within a few seconds.

"I'm so sorry," Freyja said, hoping he would remember that he wasn't alone here.

"I… I'm still wondering, how could this have happened?" Derrick asked, though not to anyone in particular. "If I'd have known it would've happened this way, then I would've-"

"You would've gotten yourself killed along with her," Cole interrupted. "And then where would we be?" This only earned him a cross death glare.

"Shut up," Derrick replied, a little more pronounced than before as he was clearly angered by Cole's last statement.

"No. You had me listen to you two years ago. Now you'll listen to me," Cole asserted himself, forcing Derrick to stand and listen. "I stayed at the lair a few hours after you left, watching over Kyra. Some good hours after your quick stop, she woke up with a good feeling and a bright smile on her face, but it quickly disappeared when she couldn't tell where it came from and she ended up in tears. If you had just had the balls to tell her you loved her, maybe she would've realized that she was perfectly capable of goodness even as a seer, and we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"And maybe she would've been scared into thinking I wanted to use her for sex, and then not only would we still be in this mess, she would never trust me again! What then!?" Derrick shouted back.

"Enough!" Freyja quickly intervened, getting between the guys. "What's done is done. We can't go back in time and change what happened without applying some means that we seriously shouldn't be toying with. Kyra's loss is tragic, and I can only fathom how important she was to the two of you, especially Derrick, but if it's safe to assume that she's watching from the afterlife, this squabbling over what should've been done can't be what she'd want to see from either of you. Now get it together! I've no desire to go back to Valhalla playing the role of babysitter."

Looking back and forth between Freyja and each other, Cole and Derrick were able to calm down and resign themselves, as evident with Derrick through his own sigh.

"Sorry," was his simple apology in Canadian accent.

"Same here," Cole replied, to the point as well.

"Good. Now, I remember you said you had some family business that you'd tended to before coming here," Freyja reminded Cole, which jolted him to life a little.

"You're right," he quickly perked up. "I did. And now that you've reminded me, I'd like to mention it now."

"Okay, well get to it," Derrick prodded him on.

"Patience, brother. It is a virtue, after all," Cole remarked before moving on. "Now, first of all, I'd like to comment that regardless whose fault you think it is, what happened between me and Phoebe started a string of romantic bad endings for her. It's altogether caused her to question her destiny with love, which essentially amounts to jeopardizing precisely what makes her tick. Also, about a year into being stuck in my cosmic void, I was able to adapt and come into a few powers, including the ability to step back in the physical plane if only for a few minutes."

"Wait, so you can make yourself solid for a time, yet you couldn't show yourself to us before?" Derrick questioned as soon as Cole's last statement registered.

"Trust me, it's not an easy power that I can just call on anytime I want," Cole cautioned him. "It actually takes a lot of effort, and I can only really do it once in a good while."

"Alright. So, what exactly did you use this ability for?" Freyja inquired.

"There's a Mercury demon in the Underworld, who's had a curiosity of his own with love and goodness. His name is Drake dè Mon," Cole began his tale. "When I saw him, I realized he was exactly the person I needed to try and restore Phoebe's faith in love. So I came to him and arranged for him to find a sorcerer who would grant him a human soul to turn him human but to keep his powers as well."

"This could've worked for Kyra, couldn't it?" Derrick questioned again, still continuing to find avenues by which Kyra could've been saved - as if he hadn't verbally beaten himself or anyone else up about her enough.

"If you wanted her to die in a year, then yes," Cole promptly informed him. "Soul sorcery is a very risky science, and no one's been able to find an effective enough method that could plant souls in long enough to circumvent time limits. I'm talking about a sorcerer that used to work directly for the Source of All Evil, yet even he couldn't fix a soul in a demonic body for more than a year."

"So what happens after that time? The soul crosses over to the afterlife and takes its holder with it?" Derrick guessed, a little uncertain about this.

"Exactly. Now, apart from that, I had to get him to agree to keep Phoebe in tune with love. Not surprisingly, considering Drake, it took no trouble at all," Cole stated. "Now, they finally met a couple of months ago, but over that same time the Elders were trying to find a way to punish Leo for the fact that he was ever with the Avatars. They came up with some kind of test which would basically blank out his memory and force him to choose between being an Elder and being a family man. As soon as I heard they were considering this, I anticipated some trickery, so I actually came again and got some thorn demons to attack Piper the day I knew they were ready to pull the trigger."

"Okay, thorn demons attacking Piper- how does that help anything?" Derrick questioned.

"Venomous thorns can be lethal. But Piper's strong. I knew she'd only get into a coma, so I used that to land her spirit into the same void I was stuck in," Cole elaborated. "I did this, because I had to convince her to let go, take a leap of faith, allow herself to cross to."

"You mean to die?" Derrick bluntly paraphrased, with Cole chuckling because it was only mere hours ago when he had the same piece to a conversation, oddly the one he was talking about right now.

"That's almost exactly what she said," he verbally noted. "What Leo and Piper have, though, is something… epic. It's everything Phoebe and I once strived to be. If Phoebe was gonna realize that she shouldn't give up on love, they would have to overcome this. Once Piper let go and allow…" He stopped as he saw Derrick shake his head in disapproval at the way he was skirting around the issue, and decided to heck with it. "…**died**, Leo would feel a certain shock, a kind of shock which I don't need to explain to you because you already told me you felt it when Kyra died, and he'd come running to Piper and make his true choice.

"What about that trickery you anticipated?" Freyja pointed out, noting that he'd forgotten that statement.

"Oh! Oh… yes. I remember it completely now. I believe there was an Elder, who tried to rig the whole thing. Put himself in Leo's way to prod him to the Elder path. Fortunately the sisters caught on and blocked him to give Piper enough time to do what she had to do. Leo felt the shock, fell from grace, became a mortal, and right now they're probably together watching the sunset."

"So it worked," Derrick stated positively.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, it did. In every way, actually," Cole answered with a bright and genuine smile, which actually faded a little when he thought about part of that outcome. "Today was Drake's last day. He'd fallen in love with Phoebe just as I did. My last order of business before coming here was actually crossing over briefly to see him off."

"How was he about it?" Freyja asked in honest interest.

"Cheerful, at least. He'd gotten everything he wanted out of this year and more," Cole replied. He soon found himself looking up briefly, as if seeing Drake in the heavens, before facing forward again and nodding in assurance. "Yeah. It all turned out okay."

"Glad to hear it. Be pretty cool to meet this guy someday if he can ever come down," Derrick commented.

"Heh. Yeah, I think he can teach you a few things," Cole remarked half-jokingly.

"And what exactly is that implying?" Derrick asked in somewhat of a light objecting tone.

"No words need be said," was Cole's vague response, basically saying 'it means what you think it means'. And what Derrick thought it meant was cause for sardonic laugh and smirk, though that soon wore off after a few seconds.

"On a serious note, though," Derrick started, "I'm eventually gonna get you out of this."

"Out of what?" Cole asked in his most daft expression, though it was obvious he had some very good idea as to the answer.

"We're not staying in Valhalla forever, my friend," Derrick clarified to him as he suspected, before turning to Freyja. "And I think even you've already figured that one out by now."

"I've already told you a hundred times, I'm not circumventing my destiny," Cole tried to decline.

"Your destiny was to go to hell. We changed that. Your plea to love before Phoebe vanquished you was originally supposed to a threat on her family before I got your head straight," Derrick spared no time or expense in reminding him.

"Well, in that case, Kyra's destiny was for Zankou to snuff her out as a demon, yet he killed her as a human," Cole pointed out.

"Your point is…?" Derrick impatiently prodded him.

"My point is that if you think you can save me, then it shouldn't be impossible to see that maybe the Charmed Ones changed something about Kyra's fate, and now you can save her," Cole elaborated.

"Um… in case you missed it, moron, she's _dead_," Derrick retorted bitingly.

"And you're quitting," Cole promptly said right back. "You know that the way magic opens the playing field, death is only the beginning. Look at me, I've been stuck in a cosmic void for two years. Heh- that should be proof enough." Derrick opened his mouth to issue a retort, but stopped himself and realized that maybe Cole was right. What Cole told him about Kyra being turned human after all yet still suffering the exact same fate at the hands of the exact same demonic bastard ex-master was even more of a fundamental change in that event than Cole earning himself a ticket into a cosmic black hole rather than an express trip to the belly of the beast of the demonic wasteland thanks to a final desperate expression of love. If anything, this marked that Kyra turning him and getting killed cruelly by Zankou as a "traitor" to the Underworld, as horrifying as that was, could actually turn out in a similarly huge blessing in disguise as Cole's own stuck-in-the-cosmos predicament.

Even Freyja was beginning to see the clarity of what Cole was saying, mostly because she saw it slowly coming to Derrick, and to realize that real level of purpose for Derrick and Cole staying in Valhalla was something that easily went far beyond merely championing and teaching the warriors. She began to develop a new appreciation for these two men; demons they may have been, but they were also men with a deeply transcending faith in love and destiny. Derrick Brady and Cole Turner were indeed two extraordinary gentlemen, and the strength of their convictions was the kind that could change everything. And again, that stretched multiple times farther than merely boosting the aptitude of her warriors. As everything came to light in her eyes, a happy chuckle and a beaming smile could be noticeable heard and seen respectively coming from her.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Cole asked with a mischievous smile coming on.

"You two have absolutely no idea," she replied, struggling not to laugh and certainly failing not to chuckle as she spoke. She swiftly turned her back to them, then pressed on the gem of her pendant to reawaken the whirling portal.

"We're going back already? I thought we had a little more time," Derrick asked, expressing some confusion at seeing the portal so soon.

"I think she sees the conversation's over at last," Cole told him, certain that at the very least this was an understandable guess. It didn't matter much anyway, Derrick surmised as he gave a shrug, right after which the two men followed Freyja through the vortex and back to Valhalla.

* * *

NOTE: Whew… finally…

Major contrast between 2b and 2c, obviously. This was almost strictly centered around Cole, Derrick, and Freyja. I think it was probably rather obvious why this piece was done the way it was, but I'm just gonna make sure all ends are tied here. Number one; this concludes this stage in the game. (Duh.) Number two; this serves as the groundwork for a successful relationship and trust between Derrick and Cole and the Valkyries, which is a) obviously very important if they're gonna stay there any longer than Odin did (btw, note to Siamese: fortunately, Adam "Edge" Copeland [may as well get out with it] and Julian McMahon are NOT John de Lancie), and b) easily an open road whose value may vary. Number three; this ties up loose ends. Now they all know everything they need to know. All that's left is to run the gauntlet, so to speak.

Now, playing the role of "my own worst critic", I already know two things that I feel I could've done better, though obviously these would contradict each other, so only one or the other would actually be doable. I could've probably included a bit more material that conveyed Derrick's contentious attitude towards Phoebe, or I could've made this chapter a page or so shorter like I originally wanted to (as usual). But aside from that, I think I did pretty good. Might need some feedback to be sure, though.

Anyway, Happy New Year, folks! Wooo! 2010, here we come!

-Pac.

P.S. Has anyone heard about the _Charmed_ comic coming in the summer? Ladies and gentlemen, that should be huge news.


End file.
